Taking care of business-dung beetles

When one looks for examples of beneficial insects there are the pollinators, scavengers, and the predators and parasites. Honey bees are at the top of the list of beneficial insects because of the pollination services and honey that is produced.

The lowly dung beetle is a very important part of a thriving ecology that most people take for granted. It hasn't always this way. In ancient Egyptian religion the sun god, Ra rolled across the sky each day and transforms bodies and souls. Beetles of the Scarabaeidae family (dung beetle ) roll dung into a ball as food and as a brood chamber in which to lay eggs that are later transformed into larva. For these reasons the scarab was seen as a symbol of this heavenly cycle and of the idea or rebirth or regeneration.

Several years ago, I learned about the Australian Dung Beetle Project and how important it was to the environment. For a complete recap of this project, go to this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Dung_Beetle_Project.

When Dr. George Bornemissza, an entomologist and ecologist, arrived in Australia from Hungary, he noticed that cow manure was not being transformed into earth building material. The reason is that the native dung beetles had co-evolved with the kangaroo and wombats. These animals produced small, hard, dry and fibrous pellets of dung. When beef cattle were introduced into Australia, they did not have dung beetles that were efficient in recycling the larger cow pies or patties.

Dr. Bornemissza observed that the failure of the native dung beetles to remove the dung resulted in several problems. First, if the cattle dung was not broken down, cattle would not eat the taller grass associated with these patties. This resulted in over 490,000 acres that cattle would not feed on. Since these paddies were subject to erosion by rainfall, excess nitrogen and phosphorus would end up in waterways causing pollution. He also observed that flies and parasitic worms were breeding in the dung and this was causing additional problems for the livestock. So he suggested that Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation undertake a dung beetle project to find foreign dung beetles that were associated with the beef cattle to increase the efficiency.

His organization collected dung beetles from Europe and Africa. The brought them to Australia for testing. The beetles were bred and allowed to increase. All of this work was under quarantine conditions because the scientific team did not want to bring in disease from these foreign sources. They were careful not to bring in mites or other insects. According to Dr. Bornemissza, the underlying principals were: "The two over-riding principles were that the beetles do not cause any harm to the biota or the environment, and secondly that the interests of the endemic dung beetle fauna are protected. My overall strategy was to have beetles bury or shred cow pads within 48 hours after dropping, in order to destroy pest flies and parasites that breed in cattle dung. "

The criteria that Dr. Bornemissza used to select dung beetle species were

1. Efficient dung burial. Species that bury dung in the shortest time were given priority.

2. Reproductive capacity. Initially fast breeding species were selected, firstly as they are easier to breed, and secondly to achieve visible impact early in the project. The slow or difficult breeders were set aside for more detailed attention when time and staff permitted.

3. Bovine dung feeders. Preference was given to species that were largely restricted to cow dung. This was mainly to protect the native dung beetles that utilize marsupial dung.

4. Geographic distribution. Close attention was paid to species with a wide geographic distribution, especially across several climate zones. It was felt that these might be more adaptable to Australian conditions.

5. Co-adaptation. Care was taken to match types of beetle activity to reduce inter-specific

competition.

6. Climate matching. This was an integral part in the selection of every species, including 'sub climatic' strains if there was any need for their separate treatment.

To accomplish this objective, from January 1968 to April 1984 1.73 million dung beetles, representing 43 species, were released in Australia by CSIRO Entomology. A collection survey has indicated that 23 species have become established.

For his efforts, Dr. Bornemissza received the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2001, for service to science and entomology, particularly through the ecological study of dung beetles and the introduction of new species to Australia.

Impact of this project, is soil and water improvement, fly control and parasitic worm control. Research has shown that the uptake of the essential minerals nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur in plants was over 80% greater in soils where dung beetles were active compared to those where they were not. In addition, tunneling dung beetles assist root penetration and improve water infiltration to the soil, thereby reducing run-off which can lead to the pollution of waterways. It was found that 96% fewer flies emerged from dung pads in open pastures with a dung beetle fauna in Hawaii compared to controls. Parasitic worms in dung were reduced by 85%.

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