Global ETD Search
Search theses and dissertations gathered from participating repositories worldwide. Every result links back to the library that holds it. No account is needed.
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Showing 1 to 18 of 18 for “"dung beetles"”.
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THE EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF HOST-MICROBIOME SYMBIOSIS IN ONTHOPHAGUS DUNG BEETLES
… to address these and related issues using the dung beetle genus Onthophagus. Previous work in this genus has demonstrated that mothers reliably pass to their offspring a conserved group of gut microbes, and that these vertically inherited microbes enhance offspring growth, development, and …
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Invertebrate mediated biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships : lessons from tropical forest dung beetles
… these knowledge gaps by investigating how dung beetle traits and functional diversity influence the secondary dispersal of seeds and the emergence and survival of seedlings in the northeastern Brazilian Amazon. My first research aim was to understand the importance of intraspecific …
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The effects of dung beetles on ecosystem functioning: From global trends to New Zealand pastures
Dung beetles are amazing. Their diverse nesting behaviours affect a suite of important biotic and abiotic ecosystem processes, or functions. However, the dynamics of these functions across different ecosystems and over time remain largely unknown. This PhD thesis investigates the relationships …
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Dung beetles eat plants : insights into the nutritional world of Euoniticellus intermedius (Reiche) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae)
Dung beetle eggs develop within the finite nutritional environment of the brood ball, which is made using maternally processed animal faeces. It is thought that microbial and gut-derived excretions constitute the major source of N and C for adult dung beetles, while developing larvae, which have …
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Benefits of Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) on Nutrient Cycling and Forage Growth in Alpaca Pastures
… in the U.S. since the early 1980s. In pastures, dung beetle activity has been shown to enhance the degradation and incorporation of dung into the soil. The benefits of this activity have been quantified for cattle, but not for alpacas. The objectives of this study were to document the dung beetle …
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The Causes and Consequences of Community Disassembly in Human Modified Tropical Forest: Scarabaeine Dung Beetles as a Model System
… the community disassembly of Scarabaeine dung beetles in tropical forest, at a variety of spatial scales. I outline the potential for tropical forest defaunation to negatively impact dung beetle communities, summarize the contributions of dung beetles to a range of key ecological …
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The Cattle Dung Arthropod Community in Eastern South Dakota: Their Colonization, Impact on Degradation, and Response to Rangeland Management
… to the arthropod community that inhabits cattle dung pats. This diverse community works together to recycle dung pats and make the nutrients in dung accessible to the surrounding plant community, an essential role in the functionality of rangelands. The research within this thesis describes the …
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Phylogeny of the Scarabaeini (Coleptera: Scarabaeidae)
… comprises some 146 species of ball-rolling dung beetles belonging to the genera Pachylomerus and Scarabaeus, and Scarabaeus subgenera, Kheper, Pachysoma, Scarabaeolus, Scarabaeus and· Sceliages. Their distribution extends throughout the Afrotropical region (including Madagascar) and southern …
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Variability in north temperate dung beetle assemblages at different spatial and temporal scales
… examined the spatial and temporal variability of dung beetle assemblages across a variety of scales e.g. from the between-pad scale (examining the effects of dung size and type) to larger spatial scales encompassing southern Ireland. Dung beetle assemblage structure as sampled by dung pad cohort …
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A comparison of seedling diversity and abundance in the range of howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Bocas del Toro, Panama
… the effects of secondary dispersers such as dung beetles and rodents, and offer suggestions for strengthening this research for future study. This study contributes to our knowledge of how howler monkeys contribute to forest flora communities, and offers an important foundation for the forest …
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The natural history, sensory ecology and biogeography of the seed dispersal of large fruits in Fynbos
… strong scent that mimics the scent of herbivore dung and exploits the olfactory sensory perception of dung beetles, which rolled and buried the seeds. The semi-fleshy fruits of the rock-restricted Heeria argentea were dispersed by the mutualistic M. namaquensis, which consumed only the pericarp, …
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Optimising the trade-offs between food production, biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Neotropics
… on the population densities of birds, trees and dung beetles, and carbon stocks in both natural habitats and the different ranching systems. I used novel methods to estimate the yields of my study sites and applied both previously developed density-yield functions and new scenario building …
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The effects of tropical forest management on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning
… on measures of ecosystem functioning. Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) functional group richness and composition were manipulated in a series of field experiments. Certain functional groups and species were found to have a greater impact on ecosystem functioning than …
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The biodiversity and climate impacts of alternative approaches to meeting demands for tropical timber and forest restoration
… data to characterise how the abundance of 57 dung beetle species changes with yield along a harvest intensity gradient in a 50,000 ha Brazilian Amazon logging concession. I then use these abundance-yield relationships, combined with company-reported logging rates, to evaluate the biodiversity …