Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Dung beetle conservation biogeography in southern Africa: current challenges and potential effects of climatic change

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodiversity and Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene changes to the geomorphology, climate and vegetation of southern Africa are considered responsible for radical differences between southwest and northeast dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) leading to current endemism in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. This bias is supported by distributional analysis of 437 species across vegetation regions and 2° × 2° squares of latitude and longitude using non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) and minimum spanning trees (MST). The ordinal values for six NMDS dimensions showed significant correlations with annual rainfall, annual temperature, rainfall seasonality and altitude. Significant climatic differences were also shown between six regional centres defined and modelled for the subcontinent: winter/bimodal rainfall, southwest arid, southeast highlands, savanna, sandy savanna and east coast. Twenty-one, principal, subregional centres defined from further NMDS and MST analyses of regional data showed significant intra-regional differences in climatic attributes although published data suggest that soil, vegetation and dung type associations were frequent additional influences. Species showing the smallest ranges were centred primarily around the coast and bordering escarpments, which coincide with regions and subregions showing unique environmental conditions characterized by many endemic genera and species. Published land use data indicate that large parts of these regions are highly transformed or degraded, so that some species are facing strong current threats. Furthermore, published global climatic change data suggest that many endemic species could be further threatened, especially to the southwest where the late Cenozoic trend to unique climatic and environmental conditions could, potentially, be reversed in the future.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahrens D, Schwarzer J, Vogler AP (2014) The evolution of scarab beetles tracks the sequential rise of angiosperms and mammals. Proc R Soc London B 281:20141470

    Google Scholar 

  • Andresen E (2002) Dung beetles in a Central Amazonian rainforest and their ecological role as secondary seed dispersers. Ecol Entomol 27:257–270

    Google Scholar 

  • Baby G, Guillocheau F, Boulognea C, Robina C, Dall’Asta M (2018) Uplift history of a transform continental margin revealed by the stratigraphic record: the case of the Agulhas transform margin along the Southern African Plateau. Tectonophysics 731–732:104–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Bergh NG, Verboom GA, Rouget M, Cowling RM (2014) Vegetation types of the Greater Cape Floristic Region. In: Allsopp N, Colville JF, Verboom GA (eds) Fynbos: ecology, evolution, and conservation of a Megadiverse Region. Oxford Univ Press, Oxford, pp 1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Bornemissza GF (1979) The Australian dung beetle research unit in Pretoria. S Afr J Sci 75:257–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown J, Scholtz CH, Janeau J-L, Grellier S, Podwojewski P (2010) Dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) can improve soil hydrological properties. Appl Soil Ecol 46:9–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke K, Gunnel Y (2008) The African erosion surface: a continental-scale synthesis of geomorphology, tectonics, and environmental change over the past 180 million years. Geol Soc Am Mem 201:1–66

    Google Scholar 

  • Cermak J (2012) Low clouds and fog along the South-Western African coast—satellite-based retrieval and spatial patterns. Atmos Res 116:15–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Cervato C, Burckle L (2003) Pattern of first and last appearance in diatoms: oceanic circulation and the position of polar fronts during the Cenozoic. Paleoceanography 18:1055

    Google Scholar 

  • Chytrý M, Horsák M, Syrovátka V, Danihelka J, Ermakov N, Germand DA, Hájek M, Hájek O, Hájková P, Horsáková V, Kočí M, Kubešová S, Lustyk P, Nekola JC, Preislerová Z, Resl P, Valachoviči M (2017) Refugial ecosystems in central Asia as indicators of biodiversity change during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Ecol Indic 77:357–367

    Google Scholar 

  • Coetzee BWT, Robertson MP, Erasmus BFN, van Rensburg BJ, Thuiller W (2009) Ensemble models predict Important Bird Areas in southern Africa will become less effective for conserving endemic birds under climate change. Global Ecol Biogeogr 18:701–710

    Google Scholar 

  • Daniel GM, Sole CL, Davis ALV, Strümpher WP, Scholtz CH (2019) Systematics of the dung beetle tribe Sisyphini Mulsant (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) inferred from a molecular phylogeny and biogeography of southern African species. Syst Entomol (online early)

  • Davis ALV (1993) Biogeographical groups in a southern African, winter rainfall, dung beetle assemblage (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)—consequences of climatic history and habitat fragmentation. Afr J Ecol 31:306–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV (1994) Compositional differences between dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae s. str.) assemblages in winter and summer rainfall climates. Afr Entomol 2:45–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV (1996a) Habitat associations in a South African, summer rainfall, dung beetle community (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae, Aphodiidae, Staphylinidae, Histeridae, Hydrophilidae). Pedobiologia 40:260–280

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV (1996b) Diel and seasonal community dynamics in an assemblage of coprophagous, Afrotropical, dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae s. str., Aphodiidae, Staphylinidae: Oxytelinae). J Afr Zool 110:291–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV (1996c) Seasonal dung beetle activity and dung dispersal in selected South African habitats: implications for pasture improvement in Australia. Agric Ecosyst Environ 58:157–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV (1997) Climatic and biogeographical associations of southern African dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae s. str.). Afric J Ecol 35:10–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV (2002) Dung beetle diversity in South Africa: influential factors, conservation status, data inadequacies and survey design. Afr Entomol 10:53–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Scholtz CH, Chown SL (1999) Species turnover, community boundaries, and biogeographical composition of dung beetle assemblages across an altitudinal gradient in South Africa. J Biogeogr 26:1039–1055

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, van Aarde RJ, Scholtz CH, Delport JH (2002) Increasing representation of localized dung beetles across a chronosequence of regenerating vegetation and natural dune forest in South Africa. Global Ecol Biogeogr 11:191–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Scholtz CH, Dooley PW, Bham N, Kryger U (2004) Scarabaeine dung beetles as indicators of biodiversity, habitat transformation and pest control chemicals in agro-ecosystems. S Afr J Sci 100:415–424

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Scholtz CH, Deschodt C (2005) A dung beetle survey of selected Gauteng nature reserves: implications for conservation of the provincial scarabaeine fauna. Afr Entomol 13:1–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, van Aarde RJ, Scholtz CH, Guldemond RAR, Fourie J, Deschodt CM (2013) Is microclimate-driven turnover of dung beetle assemblage structure in regenerating coastal vegetation a precursor to re-establishment of a forest fauna? J Insect Conserv 17:565–576

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Swemmer AM, Scholtz CH, Deschodt CM, Tshikae BP (2014) Roles of environmental variables and land usage as drivers of dung beetle assemblage structure in mopane woodland. Austral Ecol 39:313–327

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Scholtz CH, Deschodt CM, Strümpher WP (2016) Edaphic and climatic history has driven current dung beetle species pool and assemblage structure across a transition zone in central South Africa. Biol J Linn Soc 119:329–347

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Scholtz CH, Sole CL (2017) Biogeographical and co-evolutionary origins of scarabaeine dung beetles: mesozoic vicariance versus Cenozoic dispersal and dinosaur versus mammal dung. Biol J Linn Soc 120:258–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Deschodt CM, Scholtz CH (2019) Defining new dung beetle tribes to resolve discrepancies between phylogeny and tribal classification in the subfamily Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Zootaxa 4608:131–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis ALV, Deschodt CM, Scholtz CH (2020) Conservation assessment of scarabaeine dung beetles in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia: IUCN red list categories, atlas and ecological notes, Suricata X. S Afr Natl Biodivers Inst, Pretoria (in press)

  • Deacon HJ (1983) An introduction to the fynbos region, time scales and palaeoenvironments. In: Deacon HJ, Hendey QB, Lambrechts JJ (eds) Fynbos, palaeoecology: a preliminary synthesis. S Afr Natl Sci Prog Report No. 75, CSIR, Pretoria, pp 1–20

  • Deschodt CM, Davis ALV (2018) New deltochiline (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) taxa associated with hyrax dung in arid south western Namibia. Zootaxa 4450:066–076

    Google Scholar 

  • Diekmann B, Fälker M, Kuhn G (2003) Environmental history of the south-eastern South Atlantic since the Middle Miocene: evidence from the sedimentological records of ODP Sites 1088 and 1092. Sedimentology 50:511–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Dieppois B, Pohl B, Rouault M, New M, Lawler D, Keenlyside N (2016) Interannual to interdecadal variability of winter and summer southern African rainfall, and their teleconnections. J Geophys Res-Atmos 121:6215–6239

    Google Scholar 

  • Doube BM (1983) The habitat preference of some bovine dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in Hluhluwe Game Reserve, South Africa. Bull Entomol Res 73:357–371

    Google Scholar 

  • Doube BM (1991) Appendix B.8. In: Hanski I, Cambefort Y (eds) Dung beetle ecology. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, pp 382–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Doube BM, Giller PS, Moola F (1988) Dung burial strategies in some South African coprine and onitine dung beetles. Ecol Entomol 13:251–261

    Google Scholar 

  • Dupont LM, Linder HP, Rommerskirchen F, Schefuß E (2011) Climate-driven rampant speciation of the Cape flora. J Biogeogr 38:1059–1068

    Google Scholar 

  • Eeley HAC, Lawes MJ, Piper SE (1999) The influence of climate change on the distribution of indigenous forest in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. J Biogeogr 26:595–617

    Google Scholar 

  • Erasmus BFN, van Jaarsveld AS, Chown SL, Kshatriya M, Wessels K (2002) Vulnerability of South African animal taxa to climate change. Global Change Biol 8:679–693

    Google Scholar 

  • Fairbanks DHK, Thompson MW, Vink DE, Newby TS, van den Berg HM, Everard DA (2000) The South African land cover characteristics database: a synopsis of the landscape. S Afr J Sci 96:69–82

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO (2012) FAO/IIASA/ISRIC/ISSCAS/JRC Harmonized world soil database (version 1.21)

  • Giorgi F (2006) Climate change hot-spots. Geophys Res Lett 33:L08707

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunter NL, Weir TA, Slipinksi A, Bocak L, Cameron SL (2016) If dung beetles (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) arose in association with dinosaurs, did they also suffer a mass co-extinction at the K-Pg boundary? PLoS ONE 11:e0153570

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Haddon IG, McCarthy TS (2005) The Mesozoic-Cenozoic interior sag basins of Central Africa: the Late-Cretaceous–Cenozoic Kalahari and Okavango basins. J Afr Earth Sci 43:316–333

    Google Scholar 

  • Halffter G, Favila ME (1993) The Scarabaeinae (Insecta: Coleoptera) an animal group for analysing, inventorying and monitoring biodiversity in tropical rainforest and modified landscapes. Biol Int 27:15–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanski I, Cambefort Y (1991) Competition in dung beetles. In: Hanski I, Cambefort Y (eds) Dung beetle ecology. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, pp 305–329

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansma J, Tohver E, Schrank C, Jourdan F, Adams D (2016) The timing of the Cape Orogeny: New 40Ar/39Ar age constraints on deformation and cooling of the Cape Fold Belt, South Africa. Gondwana Res 32:122–137

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Heinrich S, Zonneveld KAF, Bickert T, Willems H (2011) The Benguela upwelling related to the Miocene cooling events and the development of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: evidence from calcareous dinoflagellate cysts. Paleoceanography 26:PA3209

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirzel AH, Hausser J, Perrin N (2007) Biomapper 4. Lab. of Conservation, Dept of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. http://www2.unil.ch/biomapper

  • Hoetzel S, Dupont LM, Wefer G (2015) Miocene-Pliocene vegetation change in south-western Africa (ODP Site 1081, offshore Namibia). Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 423:102–108

    Google Scholar 

  • Huntley B, Barnard P (2012) Potential impacts of climatic change on southern African birds of fynbos and grassland biodiversity hotspots. Divers Distrib 18:769–781

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (2007) Intergovernmental panel on climate change. Climate change 2007: the physical science basis, AR4 synthesis report. http://www.ipcc.ch

  • IPCC (2013) Intergovernmental panel on climate change. In: Stocker TF et al (eds) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge, pp 1535

  • IUCN (2001) IUCN red list categories and criteria: version 3.1. IUCN species survival commission. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge

  • Jankielsohn A, Scholtz CH (2001) Effect of habitat transformation on dung beetle assemblages: a comparison between a South African nature reserve and neighboring farms. Environ Entomol 30:474–483

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch SO, Chown SL, Davis ALV, Endrödy-Younga S, van Jaarsveld AS (2000) Conservation strategies for poorly surveyed taxa: a dung beetle (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) case study from southern Africa. J Insect Conserv 4:45–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruskal JB (1964) Nonmetric multidimensional scaling: a numerical method. Psychometrika 29:115–129

    Google Scholar 

  • Linder HP (2003) The radiation of the Cape flora, southern Africa. Biol Rev 78:597–638

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • McGeoch MA, van Rensburg BJ, Botes A (2002) The verification and application of bioindicators: a case study of dung beetles in a savanna ecosystem. J Appl Ecol 39:661–672

    Google Scholar 

  • McMahon SM, Harrison SP, Armbruster WS, Bartlein PJ, Beale CM, Edwards ME, Kattge J, Midgley G, Morin X, Prentice IC (2011) Improving assessment and modelling of climate change impacts on global terrestrial biodiversity. Trends Ecol Evol 26:249–259

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mlambo S, Sole CL, Scholtz CH (2015) A molecular phylogeny of the African Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Arthropod Syst Phylogeny 73:303–321

    Google Scholar 

  • Monaghan MT, Inward DJG, Hunt T, Vogler AP (2007) A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Scarabaeinae (dung beetles). Mol Phylogenet Evol 45:674–692

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mucina L, Rutherford MC (2006) The vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Strelitzia 19:1–807

    Google Scholar 

  • Neumann FH, Bamford MK (2015) Shaping of modern southern African biomes: neogene vegetation and climate changes. Trans R Soc S Afr 70:195–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols E, Larsen T, Spector S, Davis AL, Escobar F, Favila M, Vulinec K, The Scarabaeinae Research Network (2007) Global dung beetle response to tropical forest modification and fragmentation: a quantitative literature review and meta-analysis. Biol Conserv 137:1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Nichols E, Spector S, Louzada J, Larsen T, Amezquita S, Favila ME, The Scarabaeinae Research Network (2008) Ecological functions and ecosystem services provided by Scarabaeinae dung beetles. Biol Conserv 141:1461–1474

    Google Scholar 

  • Olson DM, Dinerstein E, Wikramanayake ED, Burgess ND, Powell GVN, Underwood EC, d’Amico JA, Itoua I, Strand HE, Morrison JC, Loucks CJ, Allnutt TF, Ricketts TH, Kura Y, Lamoreux JF, Wettengel WW, Hedao P, Kassem KR (2001) Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: a new map of life on earth. Bioscience 51:933–938

    Google Scholar 

  • Partridge TC, Maud RR (1987) Geomorphic evolution of Southern Africa since the Mesozoic. S Afr J Geol 90:179–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul JD, Roberts GG, White N (2014) The African landscape through space and time. Tectonics 33:898–935

    Google Scholar 

  • Petrick B, McClymont EL, Felder S, Rueda G, Leng MJ, Rosell-Melé A (2015) Late Pliocene upwelling in the Southern Benguela region. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 429:62–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Philips TK, Pretorius E, Scholtz CH (2004) A phylogenetic analysis of dung beetles (Scarabaeinae: Scarabaeidae): unrolling an evolutionary history. Invertebr Syst 18:53–88

    Google Scholar 

  • Potts AJ, Moncrieff GR, Bond WJ, Cowling RM (2015) An operational framework for biome boundary research with examples from South Africa. S Afr J Bot 101:5–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Riggio J, Kijab H, Masengab E, Mbwilo F, Van de Perre F, Caro T (2018) Sensitivity of Africa’s larger mammals to humans. J Nat Conserv 43:136–145

    Google Scholar 

  • Rintoul SR, Chown SL, DeConto RM, England MH, Fricker HA, Masson-Delmotte V, Naish TR, Siegert MJ, Xavier JC (2018) Choosing the future of Antarctica. Nature 558:233–241

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rommerskirchen F, Condon T, Mollenhauer G, Dupont L, Schefuss E (2011) Miocene to Pliocene development of surface and subsurface temperatures in the Benguela Current system. Paleoceanography 26:PA3216

    Google Scholar 

  • Rudge JF, Roberts GG, White NJ, Richardson CN (2015) Uplift histories of Africa and Australia from linear inverse modeling of drainage inventories. J Geophys Res Earth 120:894–914

    Google Scholar 

  • Said A, Moder C, Clark S, Ghorbal B (2015) Cretaceous-Cenozoic sedimentary budgets of the Southern Mozambique Basin: implications for uplift history of the South African Plateau. J Afr Earth Sci 109:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheiter S, Higgins SI (2009) Impacts of climate change on the vegetation of Africa: an adaptive dynamic vegetation modelling approach. Global Change Biol 15:2224–2246

    Google Scholar 

  • Sciscio L, Tsikos H, Roberts DL, Scott L, van Breugel Y, Sinninghe Damste JS, Schouten S, Grocke DR (2016) Miocene climate and vegetation changes in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa: evidence from biogeochemistry and palynology. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 445:124–137

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiffman SS, Reynolds ML, Young FW (1981) Introduction to multidimensional scaling: theory, methods, and applications. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sole CL, Scholtz CH, Bastos ADS (2005) Phylogeography of the Namib Desert dung beetles Scarabaeus (Pachysoma) MacLeay (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). J Biogeogr 32:75–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Spector S (2006) Scarabaeine dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae): an invertebrate focal taxon for biodiversity research and conservation. Coleopt Bull Monogr 5:71–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Steffen W, Rockström J, Richardson K, Lenton TM, Folke C, Liverman D, Summerhayes CP, Barnosky AD, Cornell SE, Crucifix M, Donges JF, Fetzer I, Lade SJ, Scheffer M, Winkelmann R, Schellnhuber HJ (2018) Trajectories of the earth system in the Anthropocene. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115:8252–8259

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stuut J-BW, Crosta X, Van der Borg K, Schneider RR (2004) Relationship between Antarctic sea ice and southwestern African climate during the late Quaternary. Geology 32:909–912

    Google Scholar 

  • Swart NC, Fyfe JC (2012) Observed and simulated changes in the Southern Hemisphere surface westerly wind-stress. Geophys Res Lett 39:L16711

    Google Scholar 

  • Taljaard JJ (1986) Change of rainfall distribution and circulation patterns over Southern Africa in summer. J Climatol 6:579–592

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarasov SI, Dimitrov D (2016) Multigene phylogenetic analysis redefines dung beetles relationships and classification. BMC Evol Biol 16:1–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarasov S, Génier F (2015) Innovative Bayesian and parsimony phylogeny of dung beetles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Scarabaeinae) enhanced by ontology-based partitioning of morphological characters. PLoS ONE 10:e0116671

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • TIBCO Software Inc. (1984–2017) Tibco Statistica, version 13.3

  • Tshikae BP, Davis ALV, Scholtz CH (2013a) Dung beetle assemblage structure across the aridity and trophic resource gradient of the Botswana Kalahari: patterns and drivers at regional and local scales. J Insect Conserv 17:623–636

    Google Scholar 

  • Tshikae BP, Davis ALV, Scholtz CH (2013b) Does an aridity and trophic resource gradient drive patterns of dung beetle food selection across the Botswana Kalahari? Ecol Entomol 38:83–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter H, Lieth H (1964) Klimadiagramm-Weltatlas. Gustav Fischer, Jena

    Google Scholar 

  • Waterhouse DF (1974) The biological control of dung. Sci Am 230:100–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Zachos J, Pagani M, Sloan L, Thomas E, Billups K (2001) Trends, rhythms and aberrations in global climate 65 Ma to present. Science 292:686–693

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ziervogel G, New M, van Garderen EA, Midgley G, Taylor A, Hamann R, Stuart-Hill S, Myers J, Warburton M (2014) Climate change impacts and adaptation in South Africa. WIREs Clim Change 5:605–620

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the JRS Biodiversity Foundation for funding both (1) validation of dung beetle identifications by one of the authors (ALVD) and (2) creation of a distributional database from reference collections of the Ditsong Museum, ARC National Collection of Insects, and former Scarab Research Group at the University of Pretoria (now donated to the IZIKO South African Museum, Cape Town). Prof. Mark Robertson is thanked for designing a script in R that speeded up manipulation of data for modelling.

Funding

Under contractual conditions attached to JRS Biodiversity Foundation Grant No. GNT60313 to CHS, the database created by the former Scarab Research Group has been made publicly available by upload onto the website of the Animal Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town. http://vmus.adu.org.za/.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Entomology, Invertebrate Systematics and Conservation Group, University of Pretoria, P/Bag X20, Hatfield, 0028, South Africa

    Adrian L. V. Davis & Clarke H. Scholtz

Authors
  1. Adrian L. V. Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Clarke H. Scholtz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adrian L. V. Davis.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by David Hawksworth.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

10531_2019_1904_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 1 Supplementary Figure 1. Map panels showing: A. Altitude; B. Annual rainfall; C. Annual temperature; D. Rainfall seasonality (% rain in summer, November to March); E. Climatic regions after Walter & Lieth (1964) grouped into principal rainfall regions with mid-summer region divided into savanna (pink) and Highveld (magenta) (DOC 2201 kb)

10531_2019_1904_MOESM2_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 2 Supplementary Figure 2. NMDS ordination biplots (see Fig. 5) with species identity numbers added to data points (see Supplementary Table S3 for key) (DOC 4511 kb)

10531_2019_1904_MOESM3_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 3 Supplementary Figure 3. Range and distribution centres of dung beetle species in five of six subregions defined for the Winter & Bimodal rainfall region (DOC 1334 kb)

10531_2019_1904_MOESM4_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 4 Supplementary Figure 4. Range and distribution centres of dung beetle species in six of seven subregions defined for the Southwest Arid region (DOC 1746 kb)

10531_2019_1904_MOESM5_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 5 Supplementary Figure 5. Range and distribution centres of dung beetle species in three of five subregions defined for the Southeast Highland region (DOC 940 kb)

10531_2019_1904_MOESM6_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 6 Supplementary Figure 6. Range and distribution centres of dung beetle species in six of nine subregions defined for the Savanna region (DOC 1985 kb)

10531_2019_1904_MOESM7_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 7 Supplementary Figure 7. Range and distribution centres of dung beetle species in the game reserve subregion of the Savanna region. (DOC 295 kb)

10531_2019_1904_MOESM8_ESM.doc

Supplementary material 8 Supplementary Figure 8. Scatter plots and results for regression of significant environmental variables (Spearman r >0.4 in Table 1) on values for the first three dimensions yielded by NMDS ordination of subcontinental distribution data for 437 dung beetle species. (DOC 1128 kb)

Supplementary material 9 (DOC 32 kb)

Supplementary material 10 (DOC 117 kb)

Supplementary material 11 (DOC 537 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Davis, A.L.V., Scholtz, C.H. Dung beetle conservation biogeography in southern Africa: current challenges and potential effects of climatic change. Biodivers Conserv 29, 667–693 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01904-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01904-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation