Indigo Alexe, Stokes Katelyn, Burchell Olivia, Manning Paul
Department of Plant, Food and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Department of Animal Science and Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
PeerJ. 2025 Jan 3;13:e18674. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18674. eCollection 2025.
Non-indigenous dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) species in North America are important contributors to ecosystem functions, particularly in pasture-based livestock systems. Despite the significant body of research surrounding non-indigenous (and often invasive) dung beetles in agricultural contexts, there has been minimal study concerning the impact that these species may have on indigenous dung beetle populations in natural environments. Here we examine the possible impact of the introduced dung beetle on indigenous dung beetle populations via use of indigenous mammal dung. Using a controlled laboratory experiment, we quantified how readily beetles could use dung from bobcat (), red fox (), moose (), raccoon (), and domestic sheep (). To determine the suitability of each dung type for reproduction, we measured offspring abundance and fitness. While the number of developed offspring was significantly different among treatments, offspring fitness did not vary significantly across dung types. Our results demonstrate the generalist feeding habits of the non-indigenous dung beetle can allow this species to use the dung of various wild animals indigenous to eastern North America.
北美洲的非本土蜣螂（鞘翅目：金龟总科）物种对生态系统功能有重要贡献，尤其是在以牧场为基础的畜牧系统中。尽管围绕农业环境中的非本土（且通常具有入侵性）蜣螂已有大量研究，但关于这些物种可能对自然环境中的本土蜣螂种群产生的影响，研究却很少。在这里，我们通过使用本土哺乳动物粪便来研究引入的蜣螂对本土蜣螂种群的可能影响。通过一项受控实验室实验，我们量化了蜣螂利用山猫、赤狐、驼鹿、浣熊和家养绵羊粪便的难易程度。为了确定每种粪便类型对繁殖的适宜性，我们测量了后代数量和健康状况。虽然不同处理间发育后代的数量有显著差异，但后代健康状况在不同粪便类型间并无显著差异。我们的结果表明，非本土蜣螂的广食性饮食习惯使其能够利用北美东部各种本土野生动物的粪便。
