DOCSLIB.ORG

Effects of Landuse Change and Forest Fragmentation on The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Effects of Landuse Change and Forest Fragmentation on The EFFECTS OF LANDUSE CHANGE AND FOREST FRAGMENTATION ON THE BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING IN THE TROPICAL LOWLANDS OF SRI LANKA ENOKA PRIYADARSHANI KUDAVIDANAGE B.Sc. (Zoology), M.Sc (Environmental Sciences) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2011 1 “The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life activity; it provides protection to all beings, offering shade even to the man who destroys it.” — Gautama Buddha i Dedicated to my parents ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to late Prof. Navjot Sodhi, my ex-supervisor whose unique combination of intelligence, determination, intimidation and social skills defined my path into the field of conservation biology. I am indebted, to my supervisor Prof. Edward Webb for persuasion and guidance that enabled me to complete the PhD thesis, and to the constant encouragement provided by Prof. Richard Corlett. I extend my gratitude to Prof Sarath Kotagama, my supervisor in Sri Lanka, and mentor for the last 15 years, for his guidance provided throughout my academic life. I thank all examiners for their most valuable and helpful comments that were adopted in the final version of my thesis. Many thanks to all the past and present staff member and colleagues of the Conservation Ecology, Applied Plant Ecology laboratories and the terrestrial ecology group including Daniel Friess; David Bickford; Mary Rose Posa, Nanthinee Jeevanadam, Reuben Clement, Arvin Diesmos and Lee Wei Kit; the technical and administrative staff including Tommy Tan, Reena Devi Samayanadan, Priscilla Lee, members of the Biodiversity group and the Raffles Museum for Biodiversity research of the Department of Biological Sciences for all the encouragement assistance and inspiration extended in one-way or another. Special thanks towards Janice Lee and Qie Lan, my fellow dung girls for the comradeship of dung beetles. Prof. David J. Lohman (Lohman Lab, City College of New York) is kindly acknowledged for extending a generous helping hand in many challenges faced during my PhD study including correcting manuscripts, assisting analytical problems, helpful discussions and providing resources. I’m grateful to Darren J. Mann, Eleanor Slade and the staff of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History for patiently guiding me through the intense process of species identification and for the opportunity to use the scarab beetle collection at the American Museum iii of Natural History. Thanks to the ScarabNet research team including Finbarr Horgan for sharing with me their knowledge about dung beetles. I acknowledge all my collaborators; Thomas Wanger (Center for Conservation Biology , Stanford University), Neil Collier (Lohman Lab, City College of New York) for analytical work; Priyadarshan Dharmarajan (Ashoka Trust, India), Manori Gunetilleke (National Museums, Sri Lanka) and Deepchandi Lekamge (Sabaragamuwa University) for the taxonomic study. I acknowledge the Department of Wildlife Conservation and the Forest Department, Sri Lanka for granting me access to work in the protected area and permission to export specimen for taxonomic work. I thank the Vice- Chancellor of the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka and the Department of Natural Resources for kindly facilitating my graduate studies. Gratitude extended to Professors Nimal Gunatilleke, Savithri Gunatilleke and Drs. Eben and Uromi Goodale for expertise knowledge, guidance and helpful discussions. Ravi Amarasinghe, Chamitha de Alwis, Vimukthi Herath, Krishan and Udeni Ariyasiri, Vishan, Amila Perera, Nuwan Hegodaaarachchi, the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle and the local assistants who supported the field work are acknowledged. The Field research was funded by NAGAO Natural Environmental Foundation, Japan and Joe Grove memorial award, UK, while the taxonomic study was funded by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, London. The World Bank sponsored IRQUE project and the National University of Singapore Research Scholarship supported the PhD studies. Finally, I thank everybody including my family who stood by me extending their constant support, patience and understanding through the graduate studies. I owe all that I am to my parents, who made it their lifetimes’ goal to help me fulfill my dreams. I remember with heartfelt gratitude and warmth, my father who passed away one month before I entered the graduate iv school of his choice and my mother who stood by me all my life before she passed away seven months ago. She shared my love for nature and all living things, supported my chosen career and enjoyed every one of my field expeditions, participating with great enthusiasm. This thesis is a product of her faith in me. v Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... iii THESIS SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................... 1 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... 4 LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................................ 5 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER 1: GENERAL INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER 2: STUDY SITE ...................................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Sri Lanka and the Lowland Wet Zone: a biodiversity hotspot .......................................................... 13 2.2 From game protection to biodiversity conservation: the history and status of biodiversity conservation in the wet zone of Sri Lanka .............................................................................................. 15 2.3 Study sites: Sinharaja, Kanneliya and Kottawa ................................................................................ 20 2.3.1 Sinharaja Man and Biosphere Reserve ...................................................................................... 20 2.3.2 Kanneliya conservation forest .................................................................................................... 23 2.3.3 Kottawa Kombala conservation forest ....................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER 3: AMPHIBIAN AND BUTTERFLY DIVERSITY ACROSS A LOWLAND TROPICAL LAND-USE GRADIENT IN SRI LANKA ................................................................................................ 28 3.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 28 3.2 Materials and methods ...................................................................................................................... 29 3.2.1 Study area ................................................................................................................................... 29 vi 3.2.2 Sampling diversity and abundance ............................................................................................ 30 3.2.3 Environmental variables ............................................................................................................ 31 3.2.4 Analysis of species richness and abundance data ...................................................................... 32 3.2.5 Analysis of environmental variables .......................................................................................... 33 3.3 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 34 3.3.1 Butterflies ................................................................................................................................... 34 3.3.2 Amphibians ................................................................................................................................ 35 3.3.3 Environmental determinants ...................................................................................................... 37 3.4 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 38 3.4.1 Butterfly response to land-use change ....................................................................................... 38 3.4.2 Amphibian response to land-use change .................................................................................... 40 3.4.3 Environmental predictors of butterfly and amphibian diversity patterns ................................... 42 3.5 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 43 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 51 4.2 Dung beetles (Insecta: Coleoptera: Polyphaga: Scarabaeoidea: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae and Aphodiinae) ............................................................................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Title Butterflies Collected in and Around Lambir Hills National Park
    Butterflies collected in and around Lambir Hills National Park, Title Sarawak, Malaysia in Borneo ITIOKA, Takao; YAMAMOTO, Takuji; TZUCHIYA, Taizo; OKUBO, Tadahiro; YAGO, Masaya; SEKI, Yasuo; Author(s) OHSHIMA, Yasuhiro; KATSUYAMA, Raiichiro; CHIBA, Hideyuki; YATA, Osamu Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto Citation University (2009), 30(1): 25-68 Issue Date 2009-03-27 URL http://hdl.handle.net/2433/156421 Right Type Departmental Bulletin Paper Textversion publisher Kyoto University Contn bioL Lab, Kyoto Univ., Vot. 30, pp. 25-68 March 2009 Butterflies collected in and around Lambir Hills National ParK SarawaK Malaysia in Borneo Takao ITioKA, Takuji YAMAMo'rD, Taizo TzucHiyA, Tadahiro OKuBo, Masaya YAGo, Yasuo SEKi, Yasuhiro OHsHIMA, Raiichiro KATsuyAMA, Hideyuki CHiBA and Osamu YATA ABSTRACT Data ofbutterflies collected in Lambir Hills National Patk, Sarawak, Malaysia in Borneo, and in ks surrounding areas since 1996 are presented. In addition, the data ofobservation for several species wimessed but not caught are also presented. In tota1, 347 butterfly species are listed with biological information (habitat etc.) when available. KEY WORDS Lepidoptera! inventory1 tropical rainforesti species diversity1 species richness! insect fauna Introduction The primary lowland forests in the Southeast Asian (SEA) tropics are characterized by the extremely species-rich biodiversity (Whitmore 1998). Arthropod assemblages comprise the main part of the biodiversity in tropical rainforests (Erwin 1982, Wilson 1992). Many inventory studies have been done focusing on various arthropod taxa to reveal the species-richness of arthropod assemblages in SEA tropical rainforests (e.g. Holloway & lntachat 2003). The butterfly is one of the most studied taxonomic groups in arthropods in the SEA region; the accumulated information on the taxonomy and geographic distribution were organized by Tsukada & Nishiyama (1980), Yata & Morishita (1981), Aoki et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Identification of N-Acetyldopamine Dimers from the Dung Beetle Catharsius Molossus and Their COX-1 and COX-2 Inhibitory Activities
    Molecules 2015, 20, 15589-15596; doi:10.3390/molecules200915589 OPEN ACCESS molecules ISSN 1420-3049 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules Article Identification of N-Acetyldopamine Dimers from the Dung Beetle Catharsius molossus and Their COX-1 and COX-2 Inhibitory Activities Juan Lu 1,2, Qin Sun 1, Zheng-Chao Tu 3, Qing Lv 2, Pi-Xian Shui 1,* and Yong-Xian Cheng 2,* 1 School of Medicine, Sichuan Medical University, 319 Zhongshan Road, Luzhou 646000, China; E-Mails: [email protected] (J.L.); [email protected] (Q.S.) 2 State Key Laboratory of Phytochemistry and Plant Resources in West China, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 132 Lanhei Road, Kunming 650201, China; E-Mail: [email protected] 3 Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 190 Kaiyuan Road, Guangzhou 510530, China; E-Mail: [email protected] * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mails: [email protected] (P.-X.S.); [email protected] (Y.-X.C.); Tel./Fax: +86-871-6522-3048 (Y.-X.C.). Academic Editor: Derek J. McPhee Received: 7 July 2015 / Accepted: 17 August 2015 / Published: 27 August 2015 Abstract: Recent studies focusing on identifying the biological agents of Catharsius molossus have led to the identification of three new N-acetyldopamine dimers molossusamide A–C (1−3) and two known compounds 4 and 5. The structures of the new compounds were identified by comprehensive spectroscopic evidences. Compound 4 was found to have inhibitory effects towards COX-1 and COX-2. Keywords: Catharsius molossus; N-acetyldopamine dimers; COX-1; COX-2 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Butterfly Extirpations
    RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 2018 Conservation & Ecology RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY 66: 217–257 Date of publication: 19 April 2018 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CFF83D96-5239-4C56-B7CE-8CA1E086EBFD Butterfy extirpations, discoveries and rediscoveries in Singapore over 28 years Anuj Jain1,2*#, Khew Sin Khoon3, Cheong Weei Gan2, and Edward L. Webb1* Abstract. Habitat loss and urbanisation in the tropics have been recognised as major drivers of species extinctions. Concurrently, novel habitats such as urban parks have been shown to be important as habitats and stepping stones in urban ecosystems around the world. However, few studies have assessed long-term patterns of species extinctions and discoveries in response to these drivers in the tropics. We know little about long-term persistence and utility of novel habitats in tropical urban ecosystems. In this study, we produced an updated and exhaustive butterfy checklist of species recorded from Singapore till December 2017 to investigate trends in butterfy extirpations (local extinctions), discoveries (new country records) and rediscoveries and how these relate to land use change in 28 years (1990–2017) in Singapore. Up to 144 butterfy species were identifed to be extirpated in Singapore by 1990. From 1990–2017, an additional nine butterfy extirpations have potentially occurred, which suggests a maximum of 153 butterfy extirpations to date. The rate of extirpations between 1990 to 2017 (< 0.33 extirpations per year) was much lower than the rate of extirpations between 1926 to 1989 (> 1.52 extirpations per year). The majority of potentially extirpated butterfies between 1990 to 2017 were species restricted to mature forests.
    [Show full text]
  • REPORT on APPLES – Fruit Pathway and Alert List
    EU project number 613678 Strategies to develop effective, innovative and practical approaches to protect major European fruit crops from pests and pathogens Work package 1. Pathways of introduction of fruit pests and pathogens Deliverable 1.3. PART 5 - REPORT on APPLES – Fruit pathway and Alert List Partners involved: EPPO (Grousset F, Petter F, Suffert M) and JKI (Steffen K, Wilstermann A, Schrader G). This document should be cited as ‘Wistermann A, Steffen K, Grousset F, Petter F, Schrader G, Suffert M (2016) DROPSA Deliverable 1.3 Report for Apples – Fruit pathway and Alert List’. An Excel file containing supporting information is available at https://upload.eppo.int/download/107o25ccc1b2c DROPSA is funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration (grant agreement no. 613678). www.dropsaproject.eu [email protected] DROPSA DELIVERABLE REPORT on Apples – Fruit pathway and Alert List 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Background on apple .................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2 Data on production and trade of apple fruit ................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Pathway ‘apple fruit’ .....................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Erionota Thrax (Linnaeus, 1767), E
    國立臺灣師範大學生命科學系碩士論文 蕉弄蝶屬之分子親緣關係探討 與屬內兩種入侵農業害蟲之來源檢測 Molecular phylogeny of the genus Erionota (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), with inferring the origins of two notorious banana pest species 研究生: 顏嘉瑩 Chia-Ying Yen 指導教授: 徐堉峰博士、千葉秀幸博士 Yu-Feng Hsu, Hideyuki Chiba 中華民國 102 年 6 月 致謝 回首在師大的兩年碩士求學歷程，我受到諸位師長、同學、朋 友與家人的協助與鼓勵，實在有著說不盡的感謝話語。 首先，我想感謝我的指導教授徐堉峰教授的費心指導。扎實地 授予豐富的知識、不吝嗇地分享自身經驗、耐心地指導每一個研究 的小細節、適時地協助我渡過研究和寫作的瓶頸，並且帶領著研究 室一同創造歡樂、充滿笑聲的研究環境。每天最期待的事情之一， 就是和老師及實驗室夥伴們中午一起吃午飯 (特別是在大太陽天才 有的牛肉麵)，然後天南地北的大聊特聊，分享生活中的各種瑣事。 此外，老師對於研究與探求新知的熱情與熱忱更是我們後輩的好榜 樣。在這兩年間，老師還給了我充分的機會去學習更多的學術技能， 更鼓勵我勇敢譜出對於未來的願景，讓我在學術上與生活上都留下 了許多深刻且精彩的美好回憶與成長，能當您的學生真的是一件很 幸運而且很幸福的事情。接著，我想感謝林思民教授的慷慨指導， 願意接納我參與貴實驗室的 meeting 一同學習。老師風趣親切的個 性和對學生們亦師亦友的相處之道，總是能給予學生最大的溫暖和 關懷，在這短短兩年中更是從老師身上學到了許多研究、生活等做 人處事的智慧。也感謝師大和東海大學教授們的教導與勉勵，帶領 著我學習做研究的許多工夫或針對我的論文提出許多寶貴的建議。 我想特別感謝卓逸民教授，您嚴謹的指導與要求學術研究時的態度 和精準度，使我能在迥異的學習環境與截然不同的領域中方能時常 警惕自己，並站穩腳步繼續向前邁進。您永遠是我學術的燈塔，即 使霧再濃，夜再黑，甚至迷失了方位，您總是都能為我指引方向。 在碩士班的日子裡，研究室是我最重要的地方，在這裡所結識 的夥伴都是這一路幫助我成長的重要人物。感謝實驗室學長姐們在 我匍匐學步階段的細心指導，感謝夥伴和學弟妹的幫忙與鼓勵。感 謝草魚研究室的全體夥伴，除了大方的出借電腦以及在分析軟體上 的指導之外，仍給予我許多溫暖歡樂的回憶。感謝李壽先研究室學 長姐們提供舒適的實驗環境與設備，並總是不吝的給予親切的叮嚀 和照應。感謝師大研究所一同打拼的好同學好朋友們，特別是我的 實驗室夥伴兼戰友的莊懷淳同學這一路上的互相扶持，感謝你們陪 伴我度過每一個五味雜陳的日子，一起苦中作樂，一起加油打氣， 一起互相砥礪。能夠認識你們，是我碩士生涯中最重要的收穫。 另外，我要感謝台灣香蕉研究所大方地提供台灣早期香蕉耕種 以及害蟲防治等相關資料。也要感謝印度國家生物科學中心的 Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte 和日本千葉博士所提供的珍貴外國樣本。並且感 謝所有曾經提供樣本、指導分析以及給予論文指導和建議的人們， 亦感謝一路上曾經給予鼓勵或關心的朋友們，謝謝你們。 最後，我想感謝我最親愛的家人們和我最重要的人－信賓，謝 謝你們一直相信我並支持我的決定，讓我可以無後顧之憂、全心全 意地專注在自己最喜歡的事物上。並且總是在我難過時陪伴我鼓勵 我，給予我最強大的力量，使我又有勇氣面對一切挑戰，沒有你們 我無法走到這步。 往這個目標邁進，我從未後悔過，雖然在這條道路上有著始料 未及的困難與磨難，甚至曾經覺得舉步維艱，無法再往前走，但對
    [Show full text]
  • Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Kameng Protected Area Complex, Western Arunachal Pradesh, India
    Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 13 August 2016 | 8(8): 9053–9124 Butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Kameng Protected Area Monograph Complex, western Arunachal Pradesh, India Sanjay Sondhi 1 & Krushnamegh Kunte 2 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) 1 Titli Trust, 49 Rajpur Road Enclave, Dhoran Khas, near IT Park, P.O. Gujrada, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001, India 1,2 Indian Foundation for Butterflies. C-703, Alpine Pyramid, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Bengaluru Karnataka 560097, India OPEN ACCESS 2 National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), GKVK, Bellary Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560065, India 1 [email protected] (corresponding author), 2 [email protected] Abstract: The butterflies of the Kameng Protected Area Complex in western Arunachal Pradesh, India, covering the protected areas of Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, Pakke Tiger Reserve and Sessa Orchid Wildlife Sanctuary were surveyed over a 5-year period (2009–2014). A total of 421 butterfly species were recorded during the survey, including two species new to India (Gonepteryx amintha thibetana and Bhutanitis ludlowi) and several species rediscoveries and range extensions in the Eastern Himalaya, most notably Arhopala belphoebe, Sovia separata magna, Aulocera saraswati vishnu, Calinaga aborica, Callerebia annada annada, and Callerebria scanda opima. Here we provide an annotated checklist of butterflies of the Kameng Protected Area Complex, including historical records, distributions, abundance, habitats and other notes on these 421 species. An additional 42 species recorded in older literature or by other authors in recent times are also listed, taking the total number of species recorded in the landscape to 463.
    [Show full text]
  • Non-Timber Forest Products and Livelihoods in Michigan's Upper
    Canada Natural Resources Canada Canadian Forest Service Canada Indian and Northern Affairs Canada First Nations Forestry Program orthCentralResearchStation Photo captions front cover: A. A basket maker peels splints—the pliable wood strips that will form a basket—off a “pounded” black ash log. (Photo courtesy of Peggy Castillo) B. Black ash basket making, from logs to finished baskets. (Photo courtesy of Peggy Castillo) C. A future basket maker tries “pounding” a log. (Photo courtesy of Peggy Castillo) D. Birch “poles” used by some stores for hanging clothing on display. (Photo by Elizabeth Nauertz, courtesy of Winter Woods, Inc.) E. Two women sort cones for Christmas wreaths. (Photo by Elizabeth Nauertz, courtesy of Winter Woods, Inc.) F. Ground pine (Lycopodium dend.) wrapped around a decorative holiday mailbox. (Photo by Elizabeth Nauertz, courtesy of Winter Woods, Inc.) North Central Research Station 1992 Folwell Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota 55108 Manuscript approved for publication May 29, 2001 2001 Forest Communities in the Third Millennium: Linking Research, Business, and Policy Toward a Sustainable Non-Timber Forest Product Sector Proceedings of meeting held October 1-4, 1999, Kenora, Ontario, Canada Editors: Iain Davidson-Hunt, Taiga Institute/University of Manitoba Luc C. Duchesne, Canadian Forest Service and John C. Zasada, USDA Forest Service NTFP Conference Proceedings TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTIONS Introduction to the Proceedings Non-timber Forest Products: Local Livelihoods and Integrated Forest Management Iain Davidson-Hunt, Taiga Institute/University of Manitoba; Luc C. Duchesne, Canadian Forest Service; and John C. Zasada, USDA Forest Service ..................................... 1 Welcomes from: Treaty #3 Territory Lance Sandy, Kenora Area Tribal Chief ................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Epidemiological Studies on Non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia Coli
    Epidemiological studies on Non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Anil Kenneth Persad DVM, MS Graduate Program in Comparative and Veterinary Medicine The Ohio State University 2016 Dissertation Committee: Professor Jeffrey LeJeune (Advisor) Dr. Gireesh Rajashekara Dr. Qiuhong Wang Dr. Joshua Daniels Copyrighted by Anil Kenneth Persad 2016 Abstract Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), a diverse group of bacteria with over 400 serogroups, is estimated to cause over two million cases of human disease globally each year. STEC O157:H7 has been the pathotype most associated with human disease; however the number of human diseases associated with non–O157 serogroups has been increasing. STEC can be part of the normal gastrointestinal flora of animals and shed asymptomatically. Humans are primarily infected via consumption of contaminated food or water, but can also be infected via direct-contact with animals and/or their environment and person to person transmission. In chapter 2, we investigated the extent to which E. coli transfers from deer feces to soils where crops are cultivated in Ohio. Two experiments were performed assessing persistence and dissemination of E. coli in deer feces. In the first experiment, the total coliform and E. coli counts were determined in soil and surface debris samples collected from a vegetable production field naturally contaminated with deer feces and compared with samples collected away from any visible signs of fecal contamination. Samples were similarly assessed 60 days post-redmediation.
    [Show full text]
  • On the Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae Coprinae) of Dhanusha District, Nepal
    Rec. zool. Surv. India: l06(Part-3) : 35-45, 2006 ON THE DUNG BEETLES (COLEOPTERA: SCARABAEIDAE COPRINAE) OF DHANUSHA DISTRICT, NEPAL S. K. CHATTERJEE, S. P. MAHTO* AND V. K. THAPA** Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata-700 053, India INTRODUCTION Beetles of the subfamily Coprinae are commonly known as dung beetles. Scarabaeidae is one of the largest and economically important group of Coleoptera, which can easily be separated by their characteristic lamellate antennae. Though, they are found all over the world but are quite common in tropics than in temperate region. These beetles act as nature's scavengers as they employ themselves everywhere in clearing the ground of offensive materials. These beetles collect and bury human faeces, dung of cattles, carrion, dacaying fungi and other vegetable matters and carry them deep into the soil. In this way they help to protect the valuable plant nutrients from destruction and therefore, these beetles have an important role in terrestrial ecosystem. The knowledge of Nepalese Coprinae is mainly based on the valuable contributions of Arrow (1931), and Balthasar and Chujo (1966). In recent years, some works have been carried out by Shrestha (1982, 1984, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002) and by Entomology Division, Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC), Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal (2001), from some parts of Nepal. However, the available information on this subfamily from Nepal is still far from complete. Study of this group from Nepal was therefore, taken up for further exploration of fauna for enrichment of the present information. In the first phase, material collected from Dhanusha District in recent times are worked out.
    [Show full text]
  • Scarab Beetles in Human Culture
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Papers in Entomology Museum, University of Nebraska State November 2006 SCARAB BEETLES IN HUMAN CULTURE Brett C. Ratcliffe University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/entomologypapers Part of the Entomology Commons Ratcliffe, Brett C., "SCARAB BEETLES IN HUMAN CULTURE" (2006). Papers in Entomology. 94. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/entomologypapers/94 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Museum, University of Nebraska State at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Papers in Entomology by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Coleopterists Society Monograph Number 5:85–101. 2006. SCARAB BEETLES IN HUMAN CULTURE BRETT C. RATCLIFFE Systematics Research Collections W-436 Nebraska Hall University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE 68588-0514, U.S.A. [email protected] Abstract The use of scarab beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) by primarily pre- and non-industrial peoples throughout the world is reviewed. These uses consist of (1) religion and folklore, (2) folk medicine, (3) food, and (4) regalia and body ornamentation. The use of scarabs in religion or cosmology, once widespread in ancient Egypt, exists only rarely today in other cultures. Scarabs have a minor role in folk medicine today although they may have been more important in the past. The predominant utilization of these beetles today, and probably in the past as well, is as food with emphasis on the larval stage. Lastly, particularly large or brightly colored scarabs (or their parts) are used (mostly in the New World) to adorn the body or as regalia.
    [Show full text]
  • A Test of High Throughput Analysis of Dung Beetle Idna
    bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.10.430568; this version posted February 10, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license. 1 Dung beetles as vertebrate samplers – a test of high throughput 2 analysis of dung beetle iDNA 3 4 Rosie Drinkwater1, Elizabeth L. Clare1, Arthur Y. C. Chung2, Stephen J. Rossiter1, Eleanor 5 M. Slade3,4 6 7 1. School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, 8 London, UK 9 2. Forest Research Centre, Forestry Department, P.O. Box 1407, 90715 Sandakan, 10 Sabah, Malaysia 11 3. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, UK 12 4. Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang 13 Avenue, Singapore City 14 15 orcID: 16 Clare, E. L. - 0000-0002-6563-3365 17 Chung, A.Y.C. - 0000-0002-9529-4114 18 Rossiter, S.J. - 0000-0002-3881-4515 19 Slade, E.M. - 0000-0002-6108-1196 20 21 22 Corresponding author: 23 Rosie Drinkwater, [email protected], orcID: 0000-0001-6892-1664 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.02.10.430568; this version posted February 10, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
    [Show full text]
  • GHNP-Dung Beetles.Pdf
    Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity 14 (2021) 169e173 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Asia-Pacific Biodiversity journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/japb Original Article An experimental study on bioturbation and dung removal activities of Catharsius molossus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in the Greater Himalaya Amar Paul Singh a,*, Kritish De a, Virendra Prasad Uniyal a, Sambandam Sathyakumar b a Department of Landscape level planning and Management, Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248001, Uttarakhand, India b Department of Endangered Species management, Wildlife Institute of India, Chandrabani, Dehradun, 248001, Uttarakhand, India article info abstract Article history: In this artice, we studied the bioturbation and dung removal activity of dung beetle Catharsius molossus Received 31 May 2020 (Linnaeus, 1758) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) in different elevations in the Great Himalayan Received in revised form National Park Conservation Area for the first time to understand the capability of the species in providing 3 November 2020 such ecosystem services with an experimental approach in six different elevations in the area. We found Accepted 29 December 2020 that the weight of dung buried and bioturbation had significant difference between the elevations, and Available online 11 January 2021 they had significant linear relationship with the elevations. Differences in such activities along the elevation can cause a low amount of nutrient transfer from the dung to the soil which can adversely Keywords: Dung beetle affect the surrounding habitats. Ó Ecosystem service 2021 National Science Museum of Korea (NSMK) and Korea National Arboretum (KNA), Publishing Elevational difference Services by Elsevier. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// GHNPCA creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
    [Show full text]