Schmid Ryan B, Welch Kelton D, Lundgren Jonathan G
Ecdysis Foundation, Estelline, SD 57234, USA.
Insects. 2024 Jan 6;15(1):38. doi: 10.3390/insects15010038.
Grassland ecosystems of the Northern Plains have changed substantially since European settlement began in the latter half of the 19th century. This has led to significant changes to the dung-dwelling arthropod community in the region. As humans continue to modify large portions of the landscape, inventories of ecologically significant communities are important to collect in order to monitor the long-term effects of anthropogenic biomes. We conducted a survey of the arthropod community dwelling in cattle dung from 40 pastures extending from northeast South Dakota to central North Dakota during the 2019 and 2020 grazing seasons. In sum, 51,283 specimens were collected from 596 dung pats, comprising a community of 22 orders. Coleoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera contributed to the majority (94.5%) of the community abundance. The mean pest abundance was low per pat (0.43 adult pests/pat), with 80% of the pats not containing any adult pest. Ecologically beneficial dung-feeding beetles, predators, and parasitoids were abundant in the region, but it was an inconsistent community, which may hinder ecosystem services. This highlights the need for future work to understand the mechanisms to increase the consistency of dung pat colonization for improved consistency of ecosystem services in the region.
自19世纪后半叶欧洲人开始定居以来，北部平原的草原生态系统发生了巨大变化。这导致了该地区粪便栖息节肢动物群落的显著变化。随着人类继续改变大片景观，收集具有生态重要意义的群落清单对于监测人为生物群落的长期影响至关重要。在2019年和2020年放牧季节，我们对从南达科他州东北部到北达科他州中部的40个牧场中牛粪里的节肢动物群落进行了调查。总共从596个粪堆中收集了51283个标本，组成了一个包含22个目的群落。鞘翅目、双翅目和膜翅目占群落丰度的大部分（94.5%）。每个粪堆的害虫平均丰度较低（0.43只成年害虫/粪堆），80%的粪堆不含任何成年害虫。该地区以粪便为食的有益甲虫、捕食者和寄生蜂数量丰富，但群落并不稳定，这可能会阻碍生态系统服务。这突出表明未来需要开展工作，以了解增加粪堆定殖一致性的机制，从而提高该地区生态系统服务的一致性。
