From Singapore's Forests to Parks: Impacts of Urbanization on Dung Beetle Communities in a Tropical Island City

Urbanization is a major driver of biodiversity loss in Southeast Asia, yet its impacts on insect communities remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we analyzed dung beetle diversity, community composition, and beta diversity across an urbanization gradient from forested areas to managed urban parks in Singapore, a Southeast Asian city. To comprehensively assess the dung beetle communities, we deployed flight interception traps and pitfall traps with varying bait types at 12 sites across the gradient. We found a decline in dung beetle richness and diversity, with changes in community composition and high species turnover with increasing urbanization. Forest‐restricted species, including the ecologically important large nocturnal tunneller, Catharsius cf. renaudpauliani and Singapore's only rolling species, Paragymnopleurus maurus , were found in less urbanized sites, while disturbance‐tolerant species predominated in more urbanized sites. Flight interception traps and human dung‐baited pitfall traps captured distinct dung beetle assemblages, highlighting their complementary value. Importantly, our findings demonstrate that Singapore's remaining forests are vital in sustaining populations of forest‐associated dung beetles and the ecological functions they provide. This study establishes a useful baseline for monitoring the future impacts of urbanization and the effectiveness of Singapore's ongoing greening efforts and naturalizing of urban areas.