The finely defined shift work schedule of dung beetles and their eye morphology
(2021) In Ecology and Evolution 11(22). p.15947-15960- Abstract
In nature, nothing is wasted, not even waste. Dung, composed of metabolic trash and leftovers of food, is a high-quality resource and the object of fierce competition. Over 800 dung beetle species (Scarabaeinae) compete in the South African dung habitat and more than 100 species can colonize a single dung pat. To coexist in the same space, using the same food, beetles divide the day between them. However, detailed diel activity periods and associated morphological adaptations have been largely overlooked in these dung-loving insects. To address this, we used a high-frequency trapping design to establish the diel activity period of 44 dung beetle species in their South Africa communities. This allowed us to conclude that the dung beetles... (More)
In nature, nothing is wasted, not even waste. Dung, composed of metabolic trash and leftovers of food, is a high-quality resource and the object of fierce competition. Over 800 dung beetle species (Scarabaeinae) compete in the South African dung habitat and more than 100 species can colonize a single dung pat. To coexist in the same space, using the same food, beetles divide the day between them. However, detailed diel activity periods and associated morphological adaptations have been largely overlooked in these dung-loving insects. To address this, we used a high-frequency trapping design to establish the diel activity period of 44 dung beetle species in their South Africa communities. This allowed us to conclude that the dung beetles show a highly refined temporal partitioning strategy, with differences in peak of activity even within the diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal guilds, independent of nesting behavior and taxonomic classification. We further analyzed differences in eye and body size of our 44 model species and describe their variability in external eye morphology. In general, nocturnal species are bigger than crepuscular and diurnal species, and as expected, the absolute and relative eye size is greatest in nocturnal species, followed by crepuscular and then diurnal species. A more surprising finding was that corneal structure (smooth or facetted) is influenced by the activity period of the species, appearing flat in the nocturnal species and highly curved in the diurnal species. The role of the canthus—a cuticular structure that partially or completely divides the dung beetle eye into dorsal and ventral parts—remains a mystery, but the large number of species investigated in this study nevertheless allowed us to reject any correlation between its presence and the nesting behavior or time of activity of the beetles.
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- author
- Tocco, Claudia LU ; Dacke, Marie LU and Byrne, Marcus
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- body size, cornea, diel activity period, morphological light adaptations, ocular canthus, Scarabaeinae
- in
- Ecology and Evolution
- volume
- 11
- issue
- 22
- pages
- 15947 - 15960
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:34824802
- scopus:85117881045
- ISSN
- 2045-7758
- DOI
- 10.1002/ece3.8264
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
- id
- 9981a093-e749-4e73-903b-00d2e0bf834a
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-13 17:45:34
- date last changed
- 2024-06-15 20:26:14
@article{9981a093-e749-4e73-903b-00d2e0bf834a,
abstract = {{<p>In nature, nothing is wasted, not even waste. Dung, composed of metabolic trash and leftovers of food, is a high-quality resource and the object of fierce competition. Over 800 dung beetle species (Scarabaeinae) compete in the South African dung habitat and more than 100 species can colonize a single dung pat. To coexist in the same space, using the same food, beetles divide the day between them. However, detailed diel activity periods and associated morphological adaptations have been largely overlooked in these dung-loving insects. To address this, we used a high-frequency trapping design to establish the diel activity period of 44 dung beetle species in their South Africa communities. This allowed us to conclude that the dung beetles show a highly refined temporal partitioning strategy, with differences in peak of activity even within the diurnal, crepuscular, and nocturnal guilds, independent of nesting behavior and taxonomic classification. We further analyzed differences in eye and body size of our 44 model species and describe their variability in external eye morphology. In general, nocturnal species are bigger than crepuscular and diurnal species, and as expected, the absolute and relative eye size is greatest in nocturnal species, followed by crepuscular and then diurnal species. A more surprising finding was that corneal structure (smooth or facetted) is influenced by the activity period of the species, appearing flat in the nocturnal species and highly curved in the diurnal species. The role of the canthus—a cuticular structure that partially or completely divides the dung beetle eye into dorsal and ventral parts—remains a mystery, but the large number of species investigated in this study nevertheless allowed us to reject any correlation between its presence and the nesting behavior or time of activity of the beetles.</p>}},
author = {{Tocco, Claudia and Dacke, Marie and Byrne, Marcus}},
issn = {{2045-7758}},
keywords = {{body size; cornea; diel activity period; morphological light adaptations; ocular canthus; Scarabaeinae}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{22}},
pages = {{15947--15960}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Ecology and Evolution}},
title = {{The finely defined shift work schedule of dung beetles and their eye morphology}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.8264}},
doi = {{10.1002/ece3.8264}},
volume = {{11}},
year = {{2021}},
}