Examinando por Autor "Andresen, Ellen"

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    Efecto de la cobertura vegetal en escarabajos coprófagos (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) y sus funciones ecológicas en un bosque andino de Colombia
    (2022-01-28) Arias-Alvarez, Gustavo Adolfo; Vanegas-Alarcon, David Andres; Garcia-Hernandez, Andrea Lorena; Santos-Heredia, Carolina; Andresen, Ellen; CIBAS
    Introduction: Dung beetles perform important functions in terrestrial ecosystems, but anthropic pressures affect them negatively. These effects are well documented in neotropical lowland forests but have been studied little in Andean forests. Objective: To evaluate how the attributes of the dung beetle assemblages and three of their ecological functions differ in three types of vegetation cover, and to determine the relationships between attributes and functions, and among functions. Methods: Dung beetles were captured with pitfall traps, and ecological functions were measured through a field experiment in the farm “El Ocaso” (Colombia), in three types of vegetation cover: secondary forest, mixed forest and cattle pasture (three independent sites per cover). The assemblage attributes that were evaluated were abun-dance, number of species, biomass, and weighted mean body length; functions measured were dung removal, soil excavation, and secondary seed dispersal. Results: It was found that both the assemblage attributes and the ecological functions were negatively affected in the more disturbed vegetation covers, particularly in cattle pastures. Most of the assemblage attributes cor-related positively with functions; soil excavation and secondary seed dispersal had a strong positive correlation with dung removal. Conclusions: Dung beetle assemblages play important ecological functions and they are sensitive to ecosystem disturbances. This study shows how dung beetles and their functions are affected negatively when forest is trans-formed to cattle pasture in the understudied and highly fragmented Andean forest ecosystems.Key words: Andean region; dung removal; fragmented landscape; premontane forests; secondary seed dispersal; soil excavation.