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Consequences of habitat change in euromediterranean landscapes on the composition and diversity of dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea)

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Abstract

In southern Europe, an intensive agricultural abandonment occurs for more than a century. This change in land use concerns both farming and breeding and induces a large-scale expansion of forest habitats. In the Mediterranean region, which is a centre of endemism and species richness for many groups, a large amount of biodiversity is related to ancient agricultural practices. This current abandonment could consequently induce a drastic flora and fauna impoverishment. This study attempts to identify the consequences of the widespread Mediterranean forest expansion on dung beetle assemblages. Dung beetle assemblages were monitored monthly with dung-baited pitfall trapping in four Mediterranean sites from 250 to 2030 m in elevation. At each site, different grazed habitats (grassland, forest and shrubland or wooded grassland) were sampled during the most seasonally active period. In total, 61,645 specimens consisting of 70 species, namely 65 Scarabaeidae (42 Aphodiinae, 23 Scarabaeinae) and 5 Geotrupidae. Sixty-four out of the 70 sampled species (91.43%) were widely distributed in the Palaearctic region. A drastic loss in species richness consecutive to the replacement of grassland by forest was observed all along the elevation gradient: 63 species recorded in grassland habitat versus 60 and 45 species in shrubland and forest, respectively. There was often a loss in species richness according to elevation: 45 versus 30 species in low and high elevation, respectively. For Aphodiinae, the extension of forest also induced a shift in distribution across elevation. This important biodiversity loss that is mainly concerned with lowland thermophilous species was accompanied by crucial changes in the structure of assemblages. The measurement of alpha and beta-diversity in different habitats as well as between habitats across an elevation gradient is essential to our understanding of which habitats are required to best conserve biodiversity. Alpha diversity decreased from grassland to shrubland to forest. Intra-habitat alpha and beta-diversity decreased with elevation. Whereas, inter-habitat beta-diversity (spatial turnover) increased from grassland to shrubland and then to forest regardless of elevation. The contrarily, intra-site beta-diversity increased with elevation. Thus, at the regional scale, the spatial turnover decreased with elevation and increased with the vegetation cover. So, the composition and structure of dung beetle assemblages were affected by vegetation cover, which causes a decreasing abundance and species richness and could result in a drastic loss of dung beetles biodiversity in southern Europe.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the French Ministry of Environment (Contract DRAEI/92216 and project Espaces Protégés, Construction des Objectifs de Gestion des Espaces protégés). We would like to thank Aicha RAHAL for revising the early version of the manuscript. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers and editor for their pertinent comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut Supérieur des Sciences Biologiques Appliquées de Tunis (ISSBAT), Université de Tunis El Manar, 9, Avenue Zouhaïer Essafi, 1006, Tunis, Tunisia

    Faïek Errouissi

  2. Laboratoire d’Ecologie et de Technologies Microbiennes (LETMi), Institut Supérieur des Sciences Appliquées et de Technologie (INSAT), Université de Carthage, B. P. 676, 1080, Tunis, Tunisia

    Faïek Errouissi

  3. UMR 5175 Centre d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive - Laboratoire de Zoogéographie, Université Montpellier III, route de Mende, 34199, Montpellier cedex 5, France

    Pierre Jay-Robert

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  1. Faïek Errouissi
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Correspondence to Faïek Errouissi.

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There was no conflict of interest that could be perceived to bias the work.

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The sampling was carried out as a part of research program funded by the French Ministry of Environment (Contract DRAEI/92,216). The authors state the compliance with general rules of research ethics involving animals.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 Abundance dung beetles trapped at the four sampled sites (A, B, C and D) and three of habitats (Grassland, Shrubland and Forest)
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Errouissi, F., Jay-Robert, P. Consequences of habitat change in euromediterranean landscapes on the composition and diversity of dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea). J Insect Conserv 23, 15–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-018-0110-8

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