Corresponding author: Claudia Tocco (
Academic editor: Andrey Frolov
Traditional agro-pastoral practices are in decline over much of the Alps (
We first provide data about changes on a temporal scale of seasons in a dung beetle community in the western Italian Alps, an issue that has to be addressed in the local assemblages because it would affect regional biomonitoring and conservation research. This survey of 12 099 individuals belonging to 22 species illustrates a distinct seasonal pattern at a single site. Second, we collate the results of 13 published surveys of the presence of 46 species of dung beetles in 11 valleys in the western Italian Alps in the period from 2005 to 2012, a period of accelerated change in land use that started around 1945 (
Traditional agro-pastoralism is declining over much of the Alps since 1945 (
Many of the environmental effects produced by livestock are mediated by dung beetles' activities. Dung beetles are coprophagous members of the
Several studies have demonstrated the key role of tropical dung beetle assemblages as ecological indicators, whilst numerous others have described local dung beetle communities at temperate latitudes in Europe with particular focus on montane areas in France, but there is a paucity of studies on dung beetle communities in the Italian Alps. We synthesize data from published studies carried out in the western Italian Alps in the last decade (
To assess the effects of seasonality on alpine dung beetle assemblages, data were collected from a site in the Troncea valley (termed the Troncea B site) in the western Italian Alps over four occasions in 2011.
Historically, surveys specifically focused on dung beetles in the western Italian Alps have occurred a total of thirteen occasions, spread unevenly across eleven valleys (the Argentera, Chalamy, Champorcher, Ferret, Gressoney, Grande, Lourousa, Sessera, Troncea, Valletta and Veny valleys) and the years 2005 to 2012 (
Seasonal sampling at Troncea B was carried out using pitfall traps with bait suspended over them using a tripod (
Four early published surveys carried out in the Chalamy, Champorcher, Ferret and Veny valleys in 2005-2006 used active manual collecting of dung beetles from dung pads (Table
and Latitude; and Longitude.
The published surveys collectively report 46 species of dung beetle inhabiting eleven valleys of the western Italian Alps, surveyed irregularly over seven years Table 3. The communities in all valleys were dominated by
The Troncea B survey collected a total of 22 dung beetle species belonging to the
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Dung beetles of Troncea B
1
Troncea B
Dung beetles collected from a site in the Troncea valley (termed the Troncea B site) in the western Italian Alps over four occasions in 2011.
Column label | Column description |
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Date | Date of the sample collection |
Valley | Name of the sampling area |
Year | Year of sample collection |
Month | Month of sample collection |
Sampling occasion | Code of sampling occasion |
Dominant plant species | Dominat plant species of the sample site |
Altitude | Altitude in metre of the sample site |
Site | Code of the sample site |
Number of traps | Number of active traps |
Abundance | Total dung beetle abundance |
Species richness | Number of dung beetle species |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species | |
Dung beetle species |
Dung beetles collected during the Troncea B survey were classified according to their nesting guilds (Halffter and Edmonds 1982) to calculate the endocoprids and paracoprid abundance. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to evaluate the dung beetle assemblage variation among sampling occasions using total abundance, species richness, endocoprid and paracoprids abundance as variables because these are the variables that are usually measured to quantify biological diversisty during biomonitoring. In the analysis, trap was used as sampling unit. Analysis were performed using the
The ordination showed seasonal variation in the biomonitoring variables describing the assemblage. A plot of the first two components (Fig.
The samples collected with pit traps from Troncea valley in different years contained the same set of species, with only one unique species in each year. The results from different years from the Chalamy and Ferret vallies cannot be compared rigorously because they were obtained with different collecting techniques (Table
We thank the staff in the Department of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences, University of Torino, Grugliasco (Torino), Italy for logistical support and their assistance in the collection of samples during the Troncea B valley surveys; the staff in the Department of Life Sciences and System Biology, University of Torino, Italy, who provided assistance during the identification; and an anonymous reviewer who pointed out the information about
Illustration of the eleven valleys in the western Italian Alps where dung beetle surveys were carried out.
Scatterplots of the first two components scores obtained from the PCA of dung beetle diversity of Troncea B (percentages of the explained variance: PC1= 64%, PC2= 25%), of first sampling occasion (red), second sampling occasion (green), third sampling occasion (light blue), and fourth sampling occasion (purple).
Climatic characteristics of the eleven valleys of the western Italian Alps surveyed from 2005 to 2012 (
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4.9 | January: -2.7 | July: 13.4 | 1123 |
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9.3 | January: -0.3 | July: 18.9 | 877 |
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5.4 | January: -3.0 | July: 14.3 | 1187 |
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6.3 | January: -2.8 | July: 15.8 | 957 |
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10.0 | January: 0.6 | July: 19.6 | 1074 |
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4.2 | January: -3.6 | July: 12.7 | 1202 |
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10.4 | January: 2.4 | July: 19.1 | 820 |
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9.7 | January: 0.1 | July: 19.4 | 1800 |
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0.8 | January: -8.0 | July: 9.5 | 956 |
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10.3 | January: 2.4 | July: 19.0 | 828 |
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5.9 | January: -2.5 | July: 14.9 | 906 |
Sampling effort details of the fourteen surveys carried out in eleven valleys of the western Italian Alps from 2005 to 2012. T = Trapping; AC = Active manual collection; * = data unavailable .
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Argentera | 2010 | T | 4 | 4 | 8 |
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Chalamy | 2005-06 | T and AC | 8 | * | 3 |
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Chalamy | 2007 | T | 4 | 12 | 6 |
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Champorcher | 2005-06 | AC | 5 | * | * |
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Ferret | 2005-06 | AC | 17 | 1-6 | * |
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Ferret | 2007 | T | 7 | 19 | 3 |
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Gressoney | 2010 | T | 4 | 4 | 8 |
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Grande | 2010 | T | 4 | 4 | 8 |
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Lourousa | 2008 | T | 2 | 5 | 9 |
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Sessera | 2010 | T | 16 | 5 | 5 |
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Troncea_B | 2011 | T | 16 | 4 | 4-6 | Unpublished data |
Troncea | 2011-12 | T | 16 | 6 | 4-6 |
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Valletta | 2008 | T | 4 | 5 | 9 |
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Veny | 2005 | AC | 10 | 1-4 | * |
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List of the species present in eleven valleys of the western Italian Alps. The different surveys have been kept separately. 1 = Valletta valley, 2008; 2 = Lourousa valley, 2008; 3 = Troncea B valley, 2011; 4 = Troncea valley, 2011-2012; 5 = Argentera valley, 2010; 6 = Grande valley, 2010; 7 = Champorcher valley, 2005-2006; 8 = Chalamy valley, 2005-2006; 9 = Chalamy valley, 2007; 10 = Gressoney valley, 2010; 11 = Ferret valley, 2005-2006; 12 = Ferret valley, 2007; 13 = Veny valley, 2005-2006; 14 = Sessera valley, 2010.
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Dung beetles of Troncea B
occurrences
Sampling at Troncea valley (site B) carried out from June to September 2011.
File: oo_107088.xlsx