TY  - JOUR
A1  - Englmeier, Jana
A1  - Mitesser, Oliver
A1  - Benbow, M. Eric
A1  - Hothorn, Torsten
A1  - von Hoermann, Christian
A1  - Benjamin, Caryl
A1  - Fricke, Ute
A1  - Ganuza, Cristina
A1  - Haensel, Maria
A1  - Redlich, Sarah
A1  - Riebl, Rebekka
A1  - Rojas Botero, Sandra
A1  - Rummler, Thomas
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Stengel, Elisa
A1  - Tobisch, Cynthia
A1  - Uhler, Johannes
A1  - Uphus, Lars
A1  - Zhang, Jie
A1  - Müller, Jörg
T1  - Diverse effects of climate, land use, and insects on dung and carrion decomposition
JF  - Ecosystems
N2  - Land-use intensification and climate change threaten ecosystem functions. A fundamental, yet often overlooked, function is decomposition of necromass. The direct and indirect anthropogenic effects on decomposition, however, are poorly understood. We measured decomposition of two contrasting types of necromass, rat carrion and bison dung, on 179 study sites in Central Europe across an elevational climate gradient of 168–1122 m a.s.l. and within both local and regional land uses. Local land-use types included forest, grassland, arable fields, and settlements and were embedded in three regional land-use types (near-natural, agricultural, and urban). The effects of insects on decomposition were quantified by experimental exclusion, while controlling for removal by vertebrates. We used generalized additive mixed models to evaluate dung weight loss and carrion decay rate along elevation and across regional and local land-use types. We observed a unimodal relationship of dung decomposition with elevation, where greatest weight loss occurred between 600 and 700 m, but no effects of local temperature, land use, or insects. In contrast to dung, carrion decomposition was continuously faster with both increasing elevation and local temperature. Carrion reached the final decomposition stage six days earlier when insect access was allowed, and this did not depend on land-use effect. Our experiment identified different major drivers of decomposition on each necromass form. The results show that dung and carrion decomposition are rather robust to local and regional land use, but future climate change and decline of insects could alter decomposition processes and the self-regulation of ecosystems.
KW  - decay
KW  - ecosystem function
KW  - global change
KW  - land-use intensification
KW  - necrobiome
KW  - urbanization
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-325064
SN  - 1432-9840
VL  - 26
IS  - 2
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Englmeier, Jana
A1  - von Hoermann, Christian
A1  - Rieker, Daniel
A1  - Benbow, Marc Eric
A1  - Benjamin, Caryl
A1  - Fricke, Ute
A1  - Ganuza, Cristina
A1  - Haensel, Maria
A1  - Lackner, Tomáš
A1  - Mitesser, Oliver
A1  - Redlich, Sarah
A1  - Riebl, Rebekka
A1  - Rojas-Botero, Sandra
A1  - Rummler, Thomas
A1  - Salamon, Jörg-Alfred
A1  - Sommer, David
A1  - Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
A1  - Tobisch, Cynthia
A1  - Uhler, Johannes
A1  - Uphus, Lars
A1  - Zhang, Jie
A1  - Müller, Jörg
T1  - Dung-visiting beetle diversity is mainly affected by land use, while community specialization is driven by climate
JF  - Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Dung beetles are important actors in the self-regulation of ecosystems by driving nutrient cycling, bioturbation, and pest suppression. Urbanization and the sprawl of agricultural areas, however, destroy natural habitats and may threaten dung beetle diversity. In addition, climate change may cause shifts in geographical distribution and community composition. We used a space-for-time approach to test the effects of land use and climate on α-diversity, local community specialization (H\(_2\)′) on dung resources, and γ-diversity of dung-visiting beetles. For this, we used pitfall traps baited with four different dung types at 115 study sites, distributed over a spatial extent of 300 km × 300 km and 1000 m in elevation. Study sites were established in four local land-use types: forests, grasslands, arable sites, and settlements, embedded in near-natural, agricultural, or urban landscapes. Our results show that abundance and species density of dung-visiting beetles were negatively affected by agricultural land use at both spatial scales, whereas γ-diversity at the local scale was negatively affected by settlements and on a landscape scale equally by agricultural and urban land use. Increasing precipitation diminished dung-visiting beetle abundance, and higher temperatures reduced community specialization on dung types and γ-diversity. These results indicate that intensive land use and high temperatures may cause a loss in dung-visiting beetle diversity and alter community networks. A decrease in dung-visiting beetle diversity may disturb decomposition processes at both local and landscape scales and alter ecosystem functioning, which may lead to drastic ecological and economic damage.
KW  - coleoptera
KW  - coprophagous beetles
KW  - decomposition
KW  - global change
KW  - hill numbers
KW  - network analysis
Y1  - 2022
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-312846
SN  - 2045-7758
VL  - 12
IS  - 10
ER  -