Pessôa Marcelo B, Izzo Thiago J, Vaz-de-Mello Fernando Z
Department of Ecology/Progama de Pós Graduação em Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil.
Department of Botany and Ecology, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Brazil.
PeerJ. 2017 Nov 8;5:e3978. doi: 10.7717/peerj.3978. eCollection 2017.
The Pantanal is one of the world's largest tropical wetland areas and harbors high mammal biomass. There is no formal list of dung beetle species, and studies on their functional roles have never being carried out in Pantanal. In this study, we identified dung beetle species occurring in the north Pantanal region (Poconé sub-region, Brazil) and studied their functional organization, by measuring morphological, behavioral and phenological traits. We collected 25,278 individuals belonging to 17 genera and 35 species. We identified eight functional groups in the habitat: Noturnal Telecoprids, Diurnal Telecoprids, Nesting Endocoprids, Small Nonrollers, Nocturnal Nester Paracoprids, Big Nesters Paracoprids, Non Nesters Paracoprids and Diurnal Nesters Paracoprids. The functional groups were defined mostly by two reproductive traits and two niche differentiation traits related to the use of fecal resources. This high diversification of both species and functional roles shows the importance of the group in a habitat with strong variation in availability of habitat and resources.
潘塔纳尔湿地是世界上最大的热带湿地之一，拥有丰富的哺乳动物生物量。目前尚无粪甲虫物种的正式名录，且从未在潘塔纳尔湿地开展过关于其功能作用的研究。在本研究中，我们鉴定了潘塔纳尔湿地北部地区（巴西波科内次区域）出现的粪甲虫物种，并通过测量形态、行为和物候特征来研究它们的功能组织。我们收集了属于17个属和35个物种的25278个个体。我们在该栖息地识别出八个功能组：夜行性推粪型、昼行性推粪型、筑巢内栖型、小型非滚粪型、夜行性筑巢旁栖型、大型筑巢旁栖型、非筑巢旁栖型和昼行性筑巢旁栖型。这些功能组主要由两个繁殖特征和两个与粪便资源利用相关的生态位分化特征定义。物种和功能作用的这种高度多样化表明了该类群在栖息地和资源可用性变化强烈的生境中的重要性。
