02278nas a2200229 4500008004100000245008300041210006900124300001200193490000800205520157300213653001501786653001701801653001201818653001501830653001101845653001301856100001601869700002001885700001801905700001601923856010901939 2009 eng d00aCo-declines in large mammals and dung beetles: an impending ecological cascade0 aCodeclines in large mammals and dung beetles an impending ecolog a481-4870 v1183 aBiodiversity loss can precipitate extinction cascades and impair ecological processes. These ‘downstream’ effects will be exacerbated if functionally important taxa are tightly linked with species threatened by extinction or population decline. We review the current evidence that such a scenario is currently playing out in the linked declines of persistently hunted
mammal populations and the dung beetles communities (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) that depend on them for adult and larval food resources. Through a close evolutionary association, mammal assemblages have played a fundamental role in structuring extant dung beetle communities. Today many game mammal species’ populations are severely depleted by subsistence or commercial hunting, especially in tropical forest systems. Multiple lines of evidence from temperate and tropical systems indicate that the regional-scale decline or extirpation of medium and large bodied mammal faunas can severely disrupt the diversity and abundance of dung beetle communities through alterations in the composition and availability of dung resources. These observed community disassemblies have significant short- and long-term implications for the maintenance of key ecosystem processes including nutrient recycling and secondary seed dispersal. Identifying the species- and community-level traits that buffer or exacerbate these species and functional responses is essential if we are to develop a better understanding of the cascading ecological consequences of hunting in tropical forests.
10aco-decline10aconservation10adecline10aextinction10amammal10aresource1 aNichols, E.1 aGardner, T., A.1 aPeres, C., A.1 aSpector, S. uhttps://scarabnet.myspecies.info/co-declines-large-mammals-and-dung-beetles-impending-ecological-cascade02748nas a2200337 4500008004100000245016200041210006900203260000800272300001200280490000700292520171700299653002702016653001402043653001702057653001402074653001402088653002502102653001502127653002402142653002602166653001002192653001602202653001902218653001502237653002902252653001302281653002702294100003502321700002002356856003402376 2003 eng d00aEstimating the number of species not yet described and their characteristics: the case of Western Palaearctic dung beetle species (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea)0 aEstimating the number of species not yet described and their cha cJan a147-1660 v123 aTo determine the degree of completion of Western Palaearctic dung beetle species inventory, as well as to ascertain some of the main geographical and morphological characteristics associated with the probability of new species description, the available taxonomic and biogeographic information of the three Scarabaeoidea families that are associated with dung was analyzed. An asymptotic fit of the cumulative number of described species is used to estimate the approximate number of species not yet described. Variation partitioning and hierarchical decomposition techniques were used to explore the influence of body size, geographical range size and geographical location variables on the process of species description. Results indicate that the inventories of Western Palaearctic Scarabaeidae and Geotrupidae species are almost complete, but that around 16% of Aphodiidae species have yet to be described. As the joint effect of geographical distribution and location is the main determinant of the species description rate in this family, it was predicted that new dung beetle species would be found in smaller areas of the southern and eastern Western Palaearctic region. The species body size accounted for a negligible fraction in the variation of the year of description. Both the geographical range size and the geographical location are essential variables negatively correlated with the year of species description, whose pure and combined effect can account for high percentages in the year of description variation (from 41 to 56%). The location of most of the taxonomic workforce in areas where broader-ranged generalist species prevail in the assemblages is the probable reason for this pattern.10aaccumulation functions10abody-size10aconservation10adiscovery10adiversity10aevolutionary history10aextinction10ageographic location10ageographic range size10apredi10aprobability10aprobability of10aregression10aspecies description rate10ataxonomy10avariation partitioning1 aCabrero-Sanudo, Francisco-Jose1 aLobo, Jorge, M. u://000179521400010