Assembly of dung beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea) - inhabitants cow dung in the northern spurs of the Manchurian-Korean Mountains (Russian Far East)
S. A. SHABALIN
Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia
Keywords: dung beetles, assembly, seasonal dynamic, niches interception, biodiversity, Primorsky krai
Abstract
In the northern spurs of the Manchurian-Korean Mountains (Primorsky Territory), an assembly of dung beetles, inhabitants of cow dung, was studied. Data on species composition, population dynamics, number and biomass of dung beetles are presented. A comparison of the assemblies of sheep and cow dung beetles in the conditions of the northern spurs of the Manchurian-Korean mountains showed that, despite the fact that these assemblies are geographically located in identical areas, formed on the basis of a common pool of species and have a similar species composition of beetles, the structural features of these assemblies, and also the dynamic processes taking place in them have significant differences. This is expressed in a richer species composition in cow dung, in the number of species in individual functional groups, in differences in dominant species, in features of the seasonal distribution of abundance and biomass (including the peak values of these indicators for individual functional groups of dung beetles), and in aggregate indicators of overlapping temporal aspects, ecological niches of coprophilous scarab beetles. It is suggested that the above differences are due to both the historical processes of the formation of assemblies and abiotic factors, first at all, by size and consistency of substrate.
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