Assessing the Effect of Habitat, Location and Bait Treatment on Dung Beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Southern Alberta, Canada
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University of Lethbridge Research Repository OPUS https://opus.uleth.ca Theses Arts and Science, Faculty of Bezanson, Giselle 2019 Assessing the effect of habitat, location and bait treatment on dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in southern Alberta, Canada Department of Biological Sciences https://hdl.handle.net/10133/5399 Downloaded from OPUS, University of Lethbridge Research Repository ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF HABITAT, LOCATION AND BAIT TREATMENT ON DUNG BEETLE (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE) DIVERSITY IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA, CANADA GISELLE ARISSA BEZANSON Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science, Trent University, 2017 A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Giselle Arissa Bezanson, 2019 ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF HABITAT, LOCATION AND BAIT TREATMENT ON DUNG BEETLE (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE) DIVERSITY IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA, CANADA GISELLE ARISSA BEZANSON Date of Defence: March 27, 2019 Dr. Kevin Floate Research Scientist Ph.D. Co-supervisor Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Lethbridge, Alberta Dr. Cameron Goater Professor Ph.D. Co-supervisor Dr. Robert Laird Associate Professor Ph.D. Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. Steve Wiseman Associate Professor Ph.D. Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. Igor Kovalchuk Professor Ph.D. Chair, Thesis Examination Committee ABSTRACT Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) are members of the coprophagous insect community and are important dung degraders in pasture ecosystems. To assess their distribution in North America, I created a checklist of over 300 beetle species known to colonize dung (Chapter 2). To assess the affect of habitat and location on dung beetle diversity, I conducted sampling at Purple Springs Grazing Reserve and Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park (Chapter 3). Each habitat and location was dominated by different species for both sampling years. The affect of bait treatment and age on the attractiveness of the coprophagous insect community was assessed using fresh and frozen dung baits, with frozen baits being more attractive for the first three days (Chapter 4). To expedite sample processing, regression equations were developed for three treatments (wet, air- dried, and oven-dried weight), which allow for counts of individuals to be estimated by their bulk weight (Chapter 5). iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to take this time to first and foremost thank everyone involved in this project. Without each of you, this journey would have been less enjoyable and more difficult. Success starts with a great foundation and for that I thank my supervisors Dr. Kevin Floate and Dr. Cameron Goater. Your expertise in entomology, ecology and parasitology were invaluable throughout this process, as were your patience, guidance, and support. Thank you for providing me the opportunity to take part in this project and explore Alberta along the way. This experience has been more than I could have ever hoped for. A thank you to my committee members Dr. Robert Laird and Dr. Steve Wiseman for your invaluable input and perspective. As well as Dr. Timothy Schwinghamer for the statistical guidance and reassurance. Also, to our lab technician Paul Coghlin for help with field work and DNA extraction and barcoding of the nematodes. A special thank you to Clinton Dovell who was my right hand for the first half of this project. Without your assistance with field and lab work, I would not have been able to accomplish all that I did. And if not for the combined help of Clinton and Tamar Messer, I would still be sitting at the microscope counting and sorting ninety thousand dung beetles. To Mallory Owen and Shlomo Swan-Azmon, who got this project off the ground and collected and processed all the beetles from 2016. As well as all of the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park and Purple Springs Grazing Reserve staff for allowing me to conduct research in these areas. Thank you to my friends and fellow graduate students for all your pep talks, advice and reassurance. Finally, a thank you to my parents Carol and Kevin, for always supporting my love for entomology, no matter where it takes me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1 : GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ......................1 1.1 Objectives ................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Literature Review ....................................................................................................................2 1.2.1 The Dung Insect Community and Its Importance .............................................................2 1.2.2 Dung Beetle Guilds ..........................................................................................................6 1.2.3 Importance of Dung Beetles to the Ecosystem .................................................................8 1.2.4 Factors Affecting Dung Beetle Activity ............................................................................9 1.2.5 Monitoring Dung Beetle Populations ........................................................................... 10 1.3 Structure of Thesis ............................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2 : AN UPDATED CHECKLIST AND DISTRIBUTIONAL RECORD OF THE COLEOPTERA ASSOCIATED WITH LIVESTOCK DUNG IN NORTH AMERICA NORTH OF MEXICO ................................................................................................................. 14 2.1 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 14 2.2 Dung Insect Community: An Overview ............................................................................... 14 2.3 Benefits of the Dung Insect Community .............................................................................. 16 2.4 Improvements Offered in this Update .................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER 3 : DUNG BEETLE (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE) DIVERSITY IN DIFFERENT HABITATS AND LOCATIONS IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA, CANADA .... 50 3.1 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 50 3.2 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 51 3.3 Methods ................................................................................................................................ 53 3.3.1 Location Descriptions ................................................................................................... 53 3.3.2 Collection of Dung Beetles ............................................................................................ 54 3.3.3 Seasonality Graphs ....................................................................................................... 56 3.3.4 Statistical Analysis ........................................................................................................ 56 3.4 Results .................................................................................................................................. 58 3.4.1 Climatic Conditions....................................................................................................... 58 3.4.2 Habitat and Location Comparison ................................................................................ 59 3.4.3 Seasonal Activity ........................................................................................................... 62 3.5 Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 62 v 3.5.1 Species Descriptions ..................................................................................................... 62 3.5.2 Future Directions and Conclusions .............................................................................. 70 CHAPTER 4 : THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF FRESH AND FROZEN CATTLE DUNG ON THE COPROPHAGOUS INSECT COMMUNITY ................................................................. 93 4.1 Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 93 4.2 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 93 4.3 Methods ................................................................................................................................ 95 4.3.1 Study Sites ....................................................................................................................