Consequences of the interaction of habitat preferences and trophic resource availability for coprophagous insect communities (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea)

Between the years 1988 and 1995, five dung beetle communities were studied in combined conditions of habitat and trophic resources. Investigations were conducted on La Viale experimental farm, in the Causse Mejean, southern France. At each site, dung beetle traps of standard design were set up simultaneously. In most situations, the vegetation cover acted like a filter that allowed the penetration of several ubiquitous but fundamentally open-habitat dung beetle species into forest, at the same time drastically limiting their numbers. Open and close sites differed significantly, open and grazed sites showing the highest richness, abundance and biomass in beetles. Both in open and close sites, a significant increase in trophic resources led to an increase of the diversity and evenness. However in open-habitat, when resources were too abundant, few species were favoured and the diversity and evenness decreased. In forest-habitat, a continuous grazing during several years (increase in resources) modified the dung beetle community, with a high increase in the numbers and biomass of beetles but a smaller increase in richness. Numbers in forest habitat readjusted to the level observed in open habitat with equivalent trophic resources. Similarly to what was observed in open pastures, the forest communities were able to adjust their numbers to the level of available trophic resources. Resources were a more active variable than the structure of habitat on the lung beetle communities. Important resources go against the filter effect which allows the penetration under cover of open-habitat species. Changes were slow (several years), and forest communities remained weak. The poverty of forest habitats is discussed: This scarcity in species is probably due to long time human activities in Europe which drastically reduced forest habitats and developped grazing, favouring generalist and heliophilous open-habitat dung beetle species. Actual grassland communities in Europe are richer than their homologous communities in North America. Conversely, in North America where human activities are recent, the true forest dung beetle communities are still diverse and richer than grassland communities.