Dung beetle communities are jointly mediated by soil properties, herbivore dung types, and habitats in Serengeti savannah

• Dung beetle communities vary significantly across Serengeti habitats. • Generalist dung use observed with minimal herbivore dung specialization. • Soil properties, habitats and dung types jointly shape dung beetle structure. • Random Forest and SEM reveals key predictors and their causal-effect relationships. • Results highlights dung beetles as bioindicators of savannah ecosystems. Dung beetles play essential roles in ecosystem functioning, by decomposing mammalian dungs, thereby facilitate nutrient cycling, seed dispersal, and parasite suppression. However, dung beetle communities and their driving factors in the Serengeti savannah remains poorly investigated. We investigated spatial patterns in dung beetle abundance, diversity, and community composition and their driving factors, using pitfall traps baited with wildebeest, buffalo, and zebra dungs along established transects spanning three habitat types: grassland, wooded grassland, and bushland. Our results demonstrated significant variation in the dung beetle assemblages among-habitat types. Specifically, open grasslands exhibited higher species richness and diversity, along with distinct compositional shifts. Dung preference analysis revealed a generalist pattern in resource use, with limited specialization to herbivore dung types. The Random Forest model explained 33%, 50%, and 52% of variance in abundance, diversity, and species richness respectively, with the key predictors being habitats, vegetation cover, herbivore dung type, and soil characteristics including electrical conductivity, soil texture, moisture, and temperature. Structural equation model further indicated that: 1) species richness was directly influenced by dung types, habitats, and vegetation cover; 2) abundance was affected by soil moisture; and 3) community composition was shaped by temperature. These findings demonstrate dung beetle communities are jointly regulated by soil properties, vegetation structure, habitat characteristics, and dung resources; key factors that maintain beetle populations and potentially enhance ecosystem multifunctionality. As bioindicators, dung beetle species provide the critical insights for biodiversity conservation. We recommend prioritizing the conservation of diverse herbivores and heterogeneous habitats to ensure resource continuity for dung beetles in Serengeti and analogous ecosystems.