@article {1507,
	title = {Historical biogeography of scarabaeine dung beetles},
	journal = {Journal of Biogeography},
	volume = {29},
	number = {9},
	year = {2002},
	note = {598JTJ BIOGEOGR},
	month = {Sep},
	pages = {1217-1256},
	abstract = {Aim (1) To review briefly global biogeographical patterns in dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae), a group whose evolutionary history has been dominated by ecological specialization to vertebrate dung in warmer climates. (2) To develop hypotheses accounting for the evolution of these patterns. Location Six principal biogeographical regions: Palaearctic, Oriental, Afrotropical, Australasia, Neotropical, Nearctic and five outlying islands or island groups harbouring endemic genera: Caribbean, Madagascar, Mauritius, New Caledonia, New Zealand. Methods Major patterns of tribal, generic and species distribution are investigated using cluster analysis, ordination, parsimony analysis of endemism and track analysis. Attempts are made to resolve biogeographical patterns with findings in the fields of plate tectonics, fossil and evolutionary history, plus phylogeny of both mammals and dung beetles. Results Because of conflict between published findings, it is uncertain at what point in time density of dinosaur dung, mammal dung or both became sufficiently great to select for specialized habits in dung beetles. However, biogeographical evidence would suggest a Mesozoic origin followed by further taxonomic radiation during the Cenozoic, possibly in response to the increasing size and diversity of mammalian dung types in South America and Afro-Eurasia. Proportional generic distribution in fourteen tribes and subtribes showed four principal biogeographical patterns: (1) southerly biased Gondwanaland distribution, (2) Americas or (3) Madagascar endemism, and (4) northerly biased, Afro-Eurasian- centred distribution with limited numbers of genera also widespread in other regions. Proportional composition of faunas in eleven geographical regions indicated three principal distributional centres, East Gondwanaland fragments, Afro- Eurasia and the Americas. These patterns probably result from three principal long-term range expansion and vicariance events (Mesozoic: Gondwanaland interchange and fragmentation, Cenozoic: Afro-Eurasian/Nearctic interchange and the Great American interchange). It is suggested that old vicariance caused by the Mesozoic fragmentation of Gondwanaland leads to a high degree of regional endemism at generic or tribal level across one or more Gondwanaland tracks. In contrast, it is suggested that the more recent Cenozoic range expansions occurred primarily towards northern regions leading to endemism primarily at species level. These Cenozoic radiations were facilitated by the re-linking of continents, either because of tectonic plate movements (Africa to Eurasia in Miocene), climatically induced sea-level change (Afro-Eurasia to Nearctic in Miocene and Pleistocene), or similar coupled with orogenics (Nearctic to Neotropical in Pliocene). Speciation has followed vicariance either because of climatic change or physical barrier development. These recent range expansions probably occurred principally along an Afro-Eurasian land track to the Nearctic and Neotropical and an Americas land track northwards from the Neotropics to the Nearctic, with limited dispersal from Eurasia to Australia, probably across a sea barrier. This accounts for the overall, spatially constrained, biogeographical pattern comprising large numbers of species- poor genera endemic to a single biogeographical region and fewer more species-rich genera, many of which show wider biogeographical distributions. In most southerly regions (Australasia, Madagascar, Neotropical), faunal composition and generic endemism is primarily dominated by elements with Gondwanaland ancestry, which is consistent with the Gondwanaland origin claimed for Scarabaeinae. In Afro-Eurasia (Palaearctic, Oriental, Afrotropical), generic endemism of monophyletically derived Afro-Eurasian and widespread lineages is centred in the Afrotropical region and faunal composition is numerically dominated by Afro-Eurasian and widespread elements. In the Nearctic region, the fauna is jointly dominated by widespread elements, derived from Afro-Eurasia, and Gondwanaland and Americas elements derived from the Neotropical region. Main conclusions Global biogeographical patterns in scarabaeine dung beetles primarily result from Mesozoic and Cenozoic range expansion events followed by vicariance, although recent dispersal to Australia may have occurred across sea barriers. Detailed phylogenetics research is required to provide data to support dispersal/vicariance hypotheses.},
	keywords = {assemblage coleoptera, biogeography, community organization, dinosaurs, dispersal, distributional patterns, Dung, fragmentation, global, habitat, hindwing articulation, historical, mammals, rain-forest, s-str, Scarabaeinae, southern african, vicariance, w},
	url = {<Go to ISI>://000178273300010},
	author = {Davis, A. L. V. and Scholtz, C. H. and Philips, T. K.}
}
@article {1578,
	title = {Diversity and composition of dung beetle (Scarabaeinae) assemblages in a heterogeneous Andean landscape},
	journal = {Tropical Zoology},
	volume = {17},
	year = {2004},
	note = {digital copy},
	pages = {123-136},
	keywords = {andean, community organization, composition, modification (biological conservation 2007), Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae},
	author = {Escobar, Frederico}
}
@article {1584,
	title = {Diversity and composition of dung beetle (Scarabaeinae) assemblages in a heterogeneous Andean landscape},
	journal = {Tropical Zoology},
	volume = {17},
	year = {2004},
	note = {digital copy},
	pages = {123-136},
	keywords = {andean, community organization, composition, modification (biological conservation 2007), Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae},
	author = {Escobar S. , Federico}
}
@article {2312,
	title = {Community convergence in disturbed subtropical dune forests},
	journal = {Ecology},
	volume = {86},
	number = {3},
	year = {2005},
	month = {Mar},
	pages = {655-666},
	abstract = {Do communities return to their former state when we disturb them? The answer is "surely not always," since some disturbances may be so devastating that recovery will be impossible. If communities do recover, then how fast is that recovery? Do different subsets of species return at the same rate? Is that rate a simple exponential recovery-meaning that the change toward the original state is fastest when the community is furthest away and it slows as the community converges? Or is recovery a more dynamically complex process? These questions are theoretically interesting and practically important. The theoretical questions are if there is a particular state-some exact composition-to which a community is likely to return, if there might be several (or many) possible such states, or if community composition is essentially haphazard. The practical implication is that if disturbed ecological communities do not tend to return to a previous state, it may be impossible to undo human impacts on natural ecosystems. We follow the fate of species assemblages following the removal of vegetation for mining. We chow that these assemblages in restored subtropical coastal dune forests in South Africa do converge with a regional equilibrium state and that convergence is possible within a reasonable period. However, changes in assemblages from different trophic levels were idiosyncratic: convergence in the dung beetle assemblage did not mimic convergence for trees and birds, for example. Few of the assemblages converged exponentially, the simplest shape for the decay function. Furthermore, trends were sometimes different for different indices of community dissimilarity, suggesting that whether one accepts convergence depends, in part, on exactly what one measures.},
	keywords = {assemblages, coastal dune forests, community organization, convergence, div, dynamics, ecological communities, ecological restoration, mining, Rehabilitating coastal dunes, resilience, richards bay, south africa, south-africa, species richness, succession},
	url = {<Go to ISI>://000227659700015 },
	author = {Wassenaar, T. D. and Van Aarde, R. J. and Pimm, S. L. and Ferreira, S. M.}
}
