The interaction between Onthophagus binodis and cattle dung pH: Impacts on reproduction and offspring phenology

IF 1.6 4区农林科学 Q2 ENTOMOLOGY

Physiological Entomology Pub Date : 2024-04-26 DOI:10.1111/phen.12436

Thomas Heddle, Zac Hemmings, Adrienne Burns, Nigel R. Andrew

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Abstract

The environment surrounding invertebrates can influence the physiology of larval offspring. Dung beetles provide several significant ecological functions, including dung breakdown, fly control and nutrient cycling. Cattle diet influences the chemical and physical constituents of dung, of which pH is considered critical. Few studies have assessed this, though a pH of 6.3 is the lowest threshold for dung beetle reproduction. We investigated the effects of an introduced and widespread dung beetle (Onthophagus binodis) on cattle dung pH (7.3, 6.0 and 5.0) and pH on O. binodis reproduction, offspring phenotypic traits and development time. Dung beetle presence increased the Δ pH (more alkaline) within dung pads after 96 h. Dung beetles produced broods in dung with a pH of 5.0, though in fewer numbers compared with the other pH treatments. Larval development was delayed in pH 5.0 with an average of 50 days compared with 44 days in dung with pH 6, 7, and the control (7.3). Smaller broods (ellipsoid volume [mm³]) were produced in dung with a pH of 5.0 compared with pH 6.0 and 7.0, and offspring emerging from broods produced from dung with a pH of 6.0 were larger compared with the other pH treatments. Our results show that dung pH is important for brood production and progeny phenotypic traits of O. binodis, an agricultural ecosystem engineer and that there is no experimental evidence to support the suggestion that dung pH influences the provisioning of broods in this species.

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食蚁兽与牛粪 pH 值之间的相互作用：对繁殖和后代物候的影响

无脊椎动物周围的环境会影响幼虫后代的生理机能。蜣螂具有几种重要的生态功能，包括粪便分解、苍蝇控制和营养循环。牛的饮食会影响粪便的化学和物理成分，其中 pH 值被认为是关键因素。尽管 pH 值 6.3 是蜣螂繁殖的最低阈值，但很少有研究对此进行评估。我们研究了一种引入并广泛分布的蜣螂（Onthophagus binodis）对牛粪 pH 值（7.3、6.0 和 5.0）的影响，以及 pH 值对 O. binodis 繁殖、后代表型特征和发育时间的影响。96小时后，蜣螂的存在增加了牛粪垫内的ΔpH值（更偏碱性）。蜣螂在pH值为5.0的牛粪中产卵，但数量少于其他pH值处理。在 pH 值为 5.0 的粪便中，幼虫的发育时间平均为 50 天，而在 pH 值为 6、7 和对照组（7.3）的粪便中，幼虫的发育时间平均为 44 天。与 pH 值为 6.0 和 7.0 的粪便相比，pH 值为 5.0 的粪便所产生的雏鸟（椭圆体体积 [mm3] ）较小；与其他 pH 值处理相比，pH 值为 6.0 的粪便所产生的雏鸟的后代较大。我们的研究结果表明，粪便 pH 值对农业生态系统工程师比目鱼的育雏和后代表型特征非常重要，没有实验证据支持粪便 pH 值影响该物种育雏的观点。

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来源期刊

Physiological Entomology 生物-昆虫学

CiteScore

2.80

自引率

6.70%

发文量

审稿时长

>12 weeks

期刊介绍： Physiological Entomology broadly considers “how insects work” and how they are adapted to their environments at all levels from genes and molecules, anatomy and structure, to behaviour and interactions of whole organisms. We publish high quality experiment based papers reporting research on insects and other arthropods as well as occasional reviews. The journal thus has a focus on physiological and experimental approaches to understanding how insects function. The broad subject coverage of the Journal includes, but is not limited to: -experimental analysis of behaviour- behavioural physiology and biochemistry- neurobiology and sensory physiology- general physiology- circadian rhythms and photoperiodism- chemical ecology