We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Life history traits and resource utilization in an assemblage of north temperate <em>Aphodius</em> dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae).
- Authors
Giller, P. S.; Gittings, T.
- Abstract
To help understand and interpret the structure and function of Aphodius dung beetle assemblages, life history traits and resource utilisation were studied for the ten species comprising the local assemblageof intensively grazed pastures in southern Ireland. Most species were univoltine but one species (A. fimetarius) was at least partly bivoltine. However, temporal overlap in adult flight periods does not necessarily imply overlap in resource use. Three different strategies ofovarian development were distinguished and were related to the preferred oviposition site and successional occurrence of the various species. Evidence suggested that absence of mature eggs in a female's ovaries did not necessarily imply that a female was in a non-reproductive state. Two species (A. prodromus and A. sphacelatus) did not breed in dung; in the laboratory larvae were reared in decaying vegetation.One species (A. erraticus) developed in brood masses beneath the dung pat. Larvae of all the other species developed within the dung pat.There were consistent interspecific differences in the larval development rates, with two species (A. rufipes and A. rufus) overwinteringmainly as prepupae and the other species mainly as adults. Previous studies have considered Aphodius assemblages as single guilds but thedetailed natural histories of these species may affect guild designation.
- Subjects
REPRODUCTION; ENTOMOLOGY
- Publication
Ecography, 1997, Vol 20, Issue 1, p55
- ISSN
0906-7590
- Publication type
Article