Dung beetles provide many important ecosystem services, including dung decomposition, pathogen control, soil aeration, and secondary seed dispersal. Yet, the biology of most dung beetles remains unknown. Natural diets are poorly studied, partly because previous research has focused on choice or attraction experiments using few, easily accessible dung types from zoo animals, farm animals, or humans. This way, many links within natural food webs have certainly been missed. In this work, we aimed to establish a protocol to analyze the natural diets of dung beetles using DNA gut barcoding.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Pedersen et al. (2024) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: