Temporal variations
in dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
assemblages in Kurukshetra, Haryana, India
Nidhi Kakkar 1 & Sanjeev K. Gupta 2
1,2 KurukshetraUniversity, Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, India
Email: 1 nidhikakkar12@yahoo.com
Date of publication
(online): 26 September 2009
Date of publication (print): 26
September 2009
ISSN 0974-7907 (online) |
0974-7893 (print)
Editor: Kailash Chandra
Manuscript details:
Ms # o2075
Received 06 October 2008
Final received 26 May 2009
Finally accepted 02 September
2009
Citation: Kakkar, N. & S.K. Gupta (2009). Temporal variations in
dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
assemblages in Kurukshetra, Haryana, India. Journal
of Threatened Taxa 1(9): 481-483.
Copyright: © Nidhi Kakkar & Sanjeev K. Gupta 2009. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. JoTT allows
unrestricted use of this article in any medium for non-profit purposes,
reproduction and distribution by providing adequate credit to the authors and
the source of publication.
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Dung beetles are taxonomically as well
as functionally very important component of terrestrial ecosystem. They are nature’s scavengers, burying
quantities of dung into the ground and thus cleaning up the earth surface of
excreta left mostly by large and medium sized herbivorous mammals (Hingston 1923). They
help in maintaining the environment by utilizing and dispersing the organic
waste (Mittal & Yadav1979; Mittal 1993b). These insects are important for the dynamics of matter in ecosystem,
because they remove detritus of the soil surface (Halffter& Matthews 1966).
The dung beetle communities are
excellent models to evaluate and to monitor to what degree the changes in the
vegetation alter the animal communities (Halffter& Favila 1993).
India has a rich and diverse fauna of
dung beetles. This paper is an effort towards
the knowledge of variations in the dung beetle assemblages temporally, in terms
of species composition, species richness, abundance and diversity.
Methods
Sampling site: Pitfall trapping
of dung beetles was conducted from April to September in a small area, 15km
away from Kurukshetra, which is situated at 29058’N
& 76052’E, approximately 250m elevation and is part of the Punjab
plains. The area was covered with small
herbs, shrubs and some tree strands. The
area was frequently visited by cattle for foraging.
Trapping
Methods: The pitfall trap design was based on that of Tyndale-Biscoe et
al. (1981). A set of traps consisted of five replicate
traps. It is a tin can of 1- 1½ litrecapacity. Fresh cattle dung was
supported on a plate at the top of the trap. The trap contents were collected after 24 hrs. offixing the traps. Lobo et al. (1998)
demonstrated that the use of only four pitfall traps sampled most species
present at a site (between 60 & 70% species, which corresponded to a 89 & 93% abundance range, respectively).
Data
Analysis
All trapped beetles were identified up
to species level with the help of identification keys by Arrow (1931), Gupta
(1986) and Mittal (1993a). To compare assemblages and constituent
species, variation in monthly assemblages was described by parameters that
include species richness, monthly changes in assemblage, composition and
diversity. Weather and availability of
additional dung can affect the number of species and individuals (Lobo et al.
1998). We studied a
diversity by calculating the Margalef index (DM),
as this balances the richness by the beetle numbers. DM= (S-1)/In N, where S is the number of
species, N is the number of trapped individuals. One advantage of this index is
the simplicity of the calculation.
Results
Data generated in this study showed 7668
individuals belonging to 23 species and three subfamilies Hybosorinae(1 sp.), Aphodiinae (5 spp.) and Scarabaeinae(17 spp.). From the weekly pooled data
it was found that Aphodius. campestris accounting maximum
proportional abundance (0.51) of total collected individuals and found to be
the most abundant species. Onthophagus falsus and Aphodius lividus were the second and third most abundant
species collected from the site (Table 1; Fig. 1).
Seasonality
Maximum number of
beetles (95.65% of total species and 52.58% of total individuals) werecaptured in June. Minimum 43.48% of
total species and 0.57% of number of individuals were found in the month of
April (Fig. 2). It was found that
initially the assemblage showed lowest species richness and abundance which
gradually increased till June. Then the
richness was decreased in July and August and then raised in September (Fig.
2). This variation may be due to
variable daily weather factors. Hill
(1993) reported simple seasonal pattern in the Australian wet tropics, similar
to other tropical regions with distinct wet and dry seasons (Janzen 1983).
Out of 23 species recorded, only six
species (Aphodius urostigma,Drepanocerus sinicus, Caccobius vulcanus, Onthophagus catta, Onthophagus quadridentatus and Onthophagus falsus) were
found throughout the collection period and of these, three species (Rhyssemus germanus, Gymnopleurus parvus, Gymnopleurus miliaris) were
found once in whole the collection
period. 43.48% species showed their peak
of abundance in the month of June (Aphodius campestris, Onthophagus spinipes, Oniticellus pallipes, Oniticellus pallens, Caccobius vulcanus, Caccobius ultor, Onthophagus ramosellus, Onthophagus bonasus, Onthophagus quadridentatus and Onthophagus mopsus). Davis
(1996) also observed the seasonal fluctuations in the size and composition of coprophagous beetle community.
Diversity
It was found to be greatest in the month
of August (2.55), when 78.26% of species and 10.28% of individuals were
present. The calculated lowest diversity
was in the month of July (1.67) when 56.52% of species and 17.48% individuals
were present.
Conclusion
Based on the results of this study, it
is concluded that the dung beetle assemblage is an ever changing
structure. Out of the three subfamilies,Scarabaeinae (17 species) is the dominant
subfamily. Aphodius campestris with the proportional abundance 0.51
shows its dominance in the assemblage. Most of the species (95.65%) and individuals (52.58%) were found in the
month of June. So dung beetle
seasonality suggests that the activity is greatest in June in terms of number
of species and number of individuals and most of the species show their peak activity
in June (Aphodius campestris,Caccobius vulcanus, Caccobius ultor, Onthophagus ramosellus, Onthophagus bonasus and Onthophagus quadridentatus). Assemblage structure depends on daily
changing weather factors, species richness and individual abundance of a
species (63.81% individuals of Aphodius campestris in June and 25% in May) forming an
assemblage. Increase or decrease in individual abundance of a species affects
the mean abundance of an assemblage (increased abundance of Aphodius campestris in June disturbs the mean value of the
catch). Diversity is also found to be
affected by season. The distribution of
dung beetle species and abundance is not uniform throughout the study period,
the assemblages vary temporally.
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