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Quantifying immediate and delayed effects of anthelmintic exposure on ecosystem functioning supported by a common dung beetle species.

ABSTRACT: Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) support numerous ecosystem functions in livestock-grazed pastures. Exposure to veterinary anthelmintic residues in livestock dung can have lethal and sublethal effects on dung beetles, and can reduce rates of dung removal, but the immediate and longer-term consequences for other dung beetle mediated functions have rarely been studied. We investigated the consequences of anthelmintic exposure on survival of the dung beetle Aphodius fossor and its delivery of four ecosystems functions that underpin pasture production: dung removal, soil fauna feeding activity, primary productivity, and reduction of soil compaction. We tested whether anthelmintic exposure had immediate or delayed effects on these functions individually and simultaneously (i.e., ecosystem multifunctionality). We found no evidence that ivermectin residues had a lethal effect on adult beetles. For dung removal, we found a significant interaction between the timing of exposure and functioning: while dung removal was impaired by concurrent exposure to high levels of ivermectin, functioning was unaffected when beetles that had been exposed previously to the same concentration of anthelmintic later interacted with untreated dung. Other ecosystem functions were not affected significantly by anthelmintic exposure, and there was no evidence to suggest any persistent impact of anthelmintic exposure on ecosystem multifunctionality. While anthelmintic residues remain a significant threat to dung beetle populations, for adult beetles, we found no evidence that residues have detrimental consequences for ecosystem functioning beyond the immediate point of exposure.

SUBMITTER: Manning P

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5553719 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Quantifying immediate and delayed effects of anthelmintic exposure on ecosystem functioning supported by a common dung beetle species.

Manning Paul P Beynon Sarah A SA Lewis Owen T OT

PloS one 20170811 8

Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) support numerous ecosystem functions in livestock-grazed pastures. Exposure to veterinary anthelmintic residues in livestock dung can have lethal and sublethal effects on dung beetles, and can reduce rates of dung removal, but the immediate and longer-term consequences for other dung beetle mediated functions have rarely been studied. We investigated the consequences of anthelmintic exposure on survival of the dung beetle Aphodius fossor and its delivery ...[more]

PMID: 28800623

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Project description:Agricultural expansion and intensification are major threats to global biodiversity, ecological functions, and ecosystem services. The rapid expansion of oil palm in forested tropical landscapes is of particular concern given their high biodiversity. Identifying management approaches that maintain native species and associated ecological processes within oil palm plantations is therefore a priority. Riparian reserves are strips of forest retained alongside rivers in cultivated areas, primarily for their positive hydrological impact. However, they can also support a range of forest-dependent species or ecosystem services. We surveyed communities of dung beetles and measured dung removal activity in an oil palm-dominated landscape in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The species richness, diversity, and functional group richness of dung beetles in riparian reserves were significantly higher than in oil palm, but lower than in adjacent logged forests. The community composition of the riparian reserves was more similar to logged forest than oil palm. Despite the pronounced differences in biodiversity, we did not find significant differences in dung removal rates among land uses. We also found no evidence that riparian reserves enhance dung removal rates within surrounding oil palm. These results contrast previous studies showing positive relationships between dung beetle species richness and dung removal in tropical forests. We found weak but significant positive relationships between riparian reserve width and dung beetle diversity, and between reserve vegetation complexity and dung beetle abundance, suggesting that these features may increase the conservation value of riparian reserves. Synthesis and applications: The similarity between riparian reserves and logged forest demonstrates that retaining riparian reserves increases biodiversity within oil palm landscapes. However, the lack of correlation between dung beetle community characteristics and dung removal highlights the need for further research into spatial variation in biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships and how the results of such studies are affected by methodological choices.

Project description:BackgroundConserving biodiversity in tropical landscapes is a major challenge to scientists and conservationists. Current rates of deforestation, fragmentation, and land use intensification are producing variegated landscapes with undetermined values for the conservation of biological communities and ecosystem functioning. Here, we investigate the importance of tropical variegated landscapes to biodiversity conservation, using dung beetle as focal taxa.MethodsThe study was carried out in 12 variegated landscapes where dung beetles were sampled using six pitfall traps, 30 m apart from each other, along a transect in each studied landscape use and cover classes-LUCC (forest fragment and corridor, coffee plantation, and pasture). We baited each pitfall trap with 30 g of human feces and left open for a 48 h period. We also measured three environmental variables reflecting structural differences among the studied classes: canopy cover, local vegetation heterogeneity and soil sand content.ResultsWe collected 52 species and 2,695 individuals of dung beetles. We observed significant differences in the mean species richness, abundance and biomass among classes, with forest fragments presenting the highest values, forest corridors and coffee plantations presenting intermediate values, and pastures the lowest values. Regarding community structure, we also found significant differences among classes. Canopy cover was the only variable explaining variation in dung beetle species richness, abundance, biomass, and community structure. The relative importance of spatial turnover was greater than nestedness-resultant component in all studied landscapes.DiscussionThis study evaluated the ecological patterns of dung beetle communities in variegated tropical landscapes highlighting the importance of these landscapes for conservation of tropical biodiversity. However, we encourage variegation for the management of landscapes that have already been fragmented or as a complementary initiative of current conservation practices (e.g., protection of natural habitats and establishment of reserves).

Dataset Information

Quantifying immediate and delayed effects of anthelmintic exposure on ecosystem functioning supported by a common dung beetle species.

Publications

Quantifying immediate and delayed effects of anthelmintic exposure on ecosystem functioning supported by a common dung beetle species.

Similar Datasets

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