RESEARCH ARTICLE Quantifying immediate and delayed effects of anthelmintic exposure on ecosystem functioning supported by a common dung beetle species Paul Manning1,2,3*, Sarah A. Beynon2,3, Owen T. Lewis2 1 Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, a1111111111 Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2 University of Oxford, Department of Zoology, Oxford, United Kingdom, 3 Dr a1111111111 Beynon's Bug Farm, Lower Harglodd Farm, St. David's, Pembrokeshire, United Kingdom a1111111111 a1111111111 *
[email protected] a1111111111 Abstract Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) support numerous ecosystem functions in live- OPEN ACCESS stock-grazed pastures. Exposure to veterinary anthelmintic residues in livestock dung can Citation: Manning P, Beynon SA, Lewis OT (2017) have lethal and sublethal effects on dung beetles, and can reduce rates of dung removal, Quantifying immediate and delayed effects of but the immediate and longer-term consequences for other dung beetle mediated functions anthelmintic exposure on ecosystem functioning have rarely been studied. We investigated the consequences of anthelmintic exposure on supported by a common dung beetle species. PLoS ONE 12(8): e0182730. https://doi.org/ survival of the dung beetle Aphodius fossor and its delivery of four ecosystems functions 10.1371/journal.pone.0182730 that underpin pasture production: dung removal, soil fauna feeding activity, primary produc- Editor: Heike Lutermann, University of Pretoria, tivity, and reduction of soil compaction. We tested whether anthelmintic exposure had imme- SOUTH AFRICA diate or delayed effects on these functions individually and simultaneously (i.e., ecosystem Received: April 12, 2017 multifunctionality). We found no evidence that ivermectin residues had a lethal effect on adult beetles.