Habitat loss and degradation are the most widely cited drivers of changes in species abundance and diversity. We explored changes in dung beetle species diversity and composition across different land uses in the north west Tanzanian savannah. We expected a negative response gradient in the diversity and composition of the dung beetle community, from land uses that preserve vegetation and hold native mammal diversity to livestock intensive and heavily grazed areas. Dung beetles were sampled in a protected area and two anthropogenically influenced land use types. Species richness and composition of each land use type, including differences in diversity and functional groups were analyzed and indicator species for each land use gradient were identified. As expected, diversity and community composition varied between areas with less environmental change compared to those impacted anthropogenically. We conclude that conservation of protected areas within African savannahs can provide a functionally rich dung beetle community and subsequently rich ecological functions. The dung beetle species identified by this study as eco-indicators can be used as a benchmark for future studies that use rapid monitoring to assess disturbance in African savannas.

栖息地的丧失和退化是物种丰富度和多样性变化最广泛被引用的驱动因素。我们探索了坦桑尼亚西北大草原上不同土地利用方式上的甲虫物种多样性和组成的变化。我们预计粪甲虫群落的多样性和组成会出现负响应梯度，从保护植被和保持原生哺乳动物多样性的土地利用到牲畜密集和高度放牧的地区。在保护区和两种人为影响的土地利用类型中取样了甲虫。分析了每种土地利用类型的物种丰富度和组成，包括多样性和功能组的差异，并确定了每种土地利用梯度的指示物种。不出所料 与受人为影响的地区相比，环境变化较小的地区之间的多样性和社区组成各不相同。我们得出的结论是，保护非洲大草原内的保护区可以提供功能丰富的粪甲虫群落，进而提供丰富的生态功能。这项研究确定的as类物种可作为生态指标，可以用作未来研究的基准，这些研究使用快速监测来评估非洲大草原的干扰。