INVESTIGADORES
ARANIBAR Julieta Nelida
artículos
Título:
Dung beetles and nutrient cycling in a dryland environment
Autor/es:
MALDONADO, M. BELÉN; ARANIBAR, JULIETA N.; SERRANO, ALEJANDRO M.; CHACOFF, NATACHA P.; VÁZQUEZ, DIEGO P.
Revista:
CATENA
Editorial:
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Referencias:
Año: 2019 vol. 179 p. 66 - 73
ISSN:
0341-8162
Resumen:
Insects are involved in the biogeochemical cycles of multiple elements and influence soil fertility. In particular,soil insects and the functions that they support can affect the response of terrestrial ecosystems to environmentalchanges. We experimentally studied the role of dung beetles as recyclers of cow dung in drylands of the CentralMonte in mid-western Argentina; and we extrapolated these results to ecosystem impact in a grazing field,considering the dung beetle´s abundance in summer. We conducted experiments with four species of dungbeetles (Sulcophanaeus imperator, Eucranium arachnoides, Digitonthophagus gazella and Malagoniella puncticollis),and quantified their abundance on the field. Dung beetles incorporated nitrogen, ammonium, and phosphorousto the soil, but this activity varied substantially among species. The highest quantity of organic matter, nitrogenand phosphate was incorporated to the soil by S. imperator, one of the larger beetle studied. While the per capitaeffect of S. imperator is superior to other species studied, the impact on the ecosystem of the invasive D. gazellamight be superior due to their major abundance in grazing fields. Our results highlight the importance ofconsidering both components, per capita effect and abundance, to estimate with more reliability the relativeimportance of dung beetle species. Given that the effect of dung beetles on nutrient cycling is variable amongspecies, and their abundance is variable in space, it is important to conserve beetle diversity in order to maximizetheir beneficial impacts on soils. Therefore, dung beetle effect on soil might be crucial in drylands to mitigate thenitrogen losses caused by grazing.