Acorn preference under field and laboratory conditions by two flightless Iberian dung beetle species (Thorectes baraudi and Jekelius nitidus): Implications for recruitment and management of oak forests in central Spain

Ecological Entomology

Volumn 36, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 104-110

  Verdú, José R ^a   Numa, Catherine ^a   Lobo, Jorge M ^b   Pérez Ramos, Ignacio M ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ALICANTE   (Spain)

^b MUSEO NACIONAL DE CIENCIAS NATURALES   (Spain)

^c CSIC   (Spain)

Author keywords

Acorn removal; Caba eros National Park; Deer grazing; Dietary shift; Mediterranean ecosystems; Oak recruitment; Quercus; Seed dispersal

Indexed keywords

BEETLE; DEER; DICOTYLEDON; DIETARY SHIFT; EVERGREEN FOREST; FOOD SELECTION; FOREST MANAGEMENT; HABITAT STRUCTURE; LOW TEMPERATURE; MEDITERRANEAN ENVIRONMENT; MUTUALISM; OVERGRAZING; PLANT-INSECT INTERACTION; RECRUITMENT (POPULATION DYNAMICS); SAVANNA; SEED DISPERSAL; SEED SIZE; SEEDLING;

SPAIN;

CERVIDAE; COLEOPTERA; QUERCUS; QUERCUS CANARIENSIS; QUERCUS RUBRA; QUERCUS SUBER; THORECTES; THORECTES LUSITANICUS;

EID: 78650934165     PISSN: 03076946     EISSN: 13652311     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2311.2010.01252.x     Document Type: Article

References (35)

1. Andresen, E. (2002) Dung beetles in a Central Amazonian rainforest and their ecological role as secondary seed dispersers. Ecological Entomology, 27, 257-270.
2. Baraud, J. (1992) Coléoptères Scarabaeoidea d'Europe. Société Linnéenne de Lyon, Lyon, France.
3. Beucke, K. & Choate, P. (2009) Notes on the feeding behavior of Mycotrupes lethroides (Westwood) (Coleoptera: Geotrupidae), a flightless North American beetle. The Coleopterists Bulletin, 63, 228-229.
4. Díaz, M. (1992) Rodent seed predation in cereal crop areas of central Spain: effects of physiognomy, food availability and predation risk. Ecography, 15, 77-85.
5. Estrada, A. & Coates-Estrada, R. (1991) Howler monkey (Alouatta palliata), dung beetles (Scarabaeidae) and seed dispersal: ecological interactions in the tropcial rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 7, 459-474.
6. Gómez, J.M. (2003) Spatial patterns in long-distance of Quercus ilex acorns by jays in a heterogeneus landscape. Ecography, 26, 573-584.
7. Gómez, J.M. (2004) Bigger is not always better: conflicting selective pressures on seed size in Quercus ilex. Evolution, 58, 71-80.
8. Gómez, J.M., Puerta-Piñero, C. & Schupp, E.W. (2008) Effectiveness of rodents as local seed dispersers of Holm oaks. Oecologia, 155, 529-537.
9. Hanski, I. & Cambefort, Y. (1991) Dung Beetle Ecology. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.
10. Howe, H.F. & Smallwood, J. (1982) Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 13, 201-228.
11. Janzen, D.H. (1971) Seed predation by animals. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 2, 465-492.
12. Jiménez, J. (2005) El ciervo (Cervus elaphus) en la zona oriental del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros: invierno 2004-2005. Parques Nacionales. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente Medio Rural y Marino.
13. Jiménez, J. & López-Izquierdo, P. (2005) Restauración de la vegetación en los pinares del Parque Nacional de Cabañeros. Parques Nacionales. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Medio Rural y Marino.
14. Löbl, I. & Smetana, A. (2006) Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera, Vol. 3: Scarabaeoidea, Scirtoidea, Dascilloidea, Buprestoidea, Byrrhoidea Appollo Books, Stenstrup, Denmark.
15. López-Colón, J.I. (1989) Algunas consideraciones sobre la morfología de la armadura genital masculina en el género Thorectes Mulsant, 1842 y sus implicaciones filogenéticas (Col. Scarabaeoidea, Geotrupidae). Boletín del Grupo Entomológico de Madrid, 4, 69-82.
16. López-Colón, J.I. (2000) Familia Geotrupidae. Coleoptera, Scarabaeoidea In Fauna Ibérica, Vol. 14 (ed. by M. A. Ramos, J. Alba-Tercedor, X. Bellés, J. Gozalbez, A. Guerra, E. Mac Pherson et al. ). Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.
17. Muñoz, A. & Bonal, R. (2007) Rodents change acorn dispersal behaviour in response to ungulate presence. Oikos, 116, 1631-1638.
18. Numa, C. (2008) Análisis multiescalar de la diversidad de escarabajos coprófagos (Coleoptera Scarabaeoidea) en la península Ibérica. PhD thesis, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
19. Numa, C., Verdú, J.R., Sánchez, A. & Galante, E. (2009) Effect of landscape structure on the spatial distribution of Mediterranean dung beetle diversity. Diversity and Distributions, 15, 489-501.
20. Pérez-Ramos, I.M. & Marañón, T. (2008) Factors affecting postdispersal seed predation in two coexisting oak species: microhabitat, burial and exclusion of large herbivores. Forest Ecology and Management, 255, 3506-3514.
21. Pérez-Ramos, I.M., Marañon, T., Lobo, J.M. & Verdú, J.R. (2007) Acorn removal and dispersal by the dung beetle Thorectes lusitanicus: ecological implications. Ecological Entomology, 32, 349-356.
22. Pérez-Ramos, I.M., Urbieta, T.I., Marañón, T., Zavala, M.A. & Kobe, R.K. (2008) Seed removal in two coexisting oak species: ecological consequences of seed size, plant cover and seed-drop timing. Oikos, 117, 1386-1396.
23. Pons, J. & Pausas, J.G. (2007) Not only size matters: acorn selection by the European jay (Garrulus glandarius). Acta Oecologica, 31, 353-360.
24. Pulido, F.J. (2002) Biología reproductiva y conservación: el caso de la regeneración de bosques templados y subtropicales de robles (Quercus spp.). Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, 75, 5-15.
25. Pulido, F.J. & Díaz, M. (2005) Regeneration of a Mediterranean oak: a whole-cycle approach. Ecoscience, 12, 92-102.
26. Purves, D.W., Zavala, M.A., Ogle, K., Prieto, F. & Rey-Benayas, J.M. (2007) Environmental heterogeneity, bird mediated directed dispersal, and oak woodland dynamics in Mediterranean Spain. Ecological Monographs, 77, 77-97.
27. Schoolmeesters, P. (2010) World Scarabaeidae database. Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2010 Annual Checklist (ed. by F. A. Bisby, Y. R. Roskov, T. M. Orrell, D. Nicolson, L. E. Paglinawan, N. Bailly et al. ), Digital resource at Species. Reading, U.K.
28. Seiwa, K., Watanabe A., Saitoh, T., Kanno, H. & Akasaka, S. (2002) Effects of burying depth and seed size on seedling establishment of Japanese chestnuts, Castanea crenata. Forest Ecology and Management, 164, 149-156.
29. Smit, C., Díaz, M. & Jansen, P. (2009) Establishment limitation of holm oak (Quercus ilex subsp. ballota (Desf.) Samp.) in a Mediterranean savanna - forest ecosystem. Annals of Forest Science, 66, 511-518.
30. StatsDirect, Ltd. (2005) StatsDirect Statistical Software. StatsDirect, Cheshire, U.K.
31. StatSoft, Inc. (2001) STATISTICA for Windows Computer Program Manual, Version 6. StatSoft Inc., Tulsa, Oklahoma.
32. Vaquero de la Cruz, J. (1997) Flora vascular y vegetación. Parque Nacional de Cabañeros (ed. by V. García ), pp. 95-154. Editorial Ecohabitat, Madrid, Spain.
33. Verdú, J.R. & Galante, E. (2000) Taxonomía y biogeografía de los Thorectes Mulsant del subgénero Silphotrupes Jekel. Descripción de una especie nueva (Scarabaeoidea, Geotrupidae, Geotrupinae). Boletín de la Asociación Española de Entomología, 24, 195-206.
34. Verdú, J.R., Lobo, J.M., Numa, C., Pérez-Ramos, I.M., Galante, E. & Marañon, T. (2007) Acorn preference by the dung beetle, Thorectes lusitanicus, under laboratory and field conditions. Animal Behaviour, 74, 1697-1704.
35. Verdú, J.R., Casas, J.L., Lobo, J.M. & Numa, C. (2010) Dung beetles eat acorns to increase their ovarian development and thermal tolerance. PLoS ONE, 5, e10114.