Search for: All records

Dung beetles, which move and bury the feces of vertebrates, are major drivers of ecosystem processes and provide crucial ecosystem services, including secondary seed dispersal. Dung beetles bury seed-containing dung in food caches or in brood balls used for breeding purposes, but little is known about how this behavior will be affected by climate change. We utilized field manipulations to investigate the effect of simulated climate change—including simultaneous increases in temperature mean and variance—on the seed dispersal behavior of two tunneling dung beetle species, Phanaeus vindex and Onthophagus taurus. We placed single adult females into either control or greenhouse treatments along with temperature loggers. We mixed glass beads of three sizes into cow dung to mimic seeds, provided beetles with the dung, and then allowed them to bury dung for either six or nine days. At the end of each trial, we recorded information on dung deposits, including the type (i.e., food cache or brood ball), number, size, burial depth, and the amount of each bead size found in the deposit. We found differences in burial depths of brood balls and food caches within species, as well as differences in the size and amount of beads buried between species. Exposure to higher temperatures resulted in brood balls being buried deeper across species, but did not change the burial depth of food caches.