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Trait responses of Peninsular Malaysian dung beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) to the loss of megafauna dung

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2019

Thary Gazi Goh  and
Rosli Hashim
Thary Gazi Goh*
Affiliation:
Institute of Biological Sciences, Science Faculty, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Rosli Hashim
Affiliation:
Institute of Biological Sciences, Science Faculty, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*
*Author for correspondence: Thary Gazi Goh, Email: t.g.goh4@gmail.com
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Abstract

The extinction of megafauna may lead to the trophic collapse of ecosystems that depend on the dung that they produce. Some dung beetle species may undergo phenotypic changes in response to altered resource availability. The pronotal width of dung beetles is a trait that can be used as a proxy measure for the amount of dung provisioned during the larval stage. In this study conducted in Peninsular Malaysia, we compare the intraspecific difference in pronotal widths of dung beetles in forests with and without megafauna. Beetles were collected using burrowing interception traps baited with elephant dung. Six species with a minimum sample size of 55 beetles per species were used. Pronotum widths were compared using Bayesian estimation (BEST). There was no credible difference between intraspecific pronotal widths of four species, but credible differences between the mean parameters of two species, Liatongus femoratus and Oniticellus tessellatus. Both these species belong to genera that have a close association with megafauna, while the other are believed to be generalists. This may indicate that species that depend on megafauna dung as a breeding resource undergo a phenotypic change following the loss of their preferred dung type. Phenotypic changes appear to be a pathway which allows species to survive the initial trophic collapse of an ecosystem.

Keywords

Adaptationdisturbanceintraspecific variationmegafaunatrophic collapse
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 39 - 41
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019 

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