I don't know dung beetles well but we had the same requirement for carabid beetles sampling : starting in "the same time", naturally speaking. We chose a period corresponding to a development stage (flowering) of a common flower in our european gradient. I don't know if it's possible for you regarding the countries you work on but I think it's a relevant solution. Also, you can define a fixed number of hours of sunshine (since january for example) to start but it means that you can't organize the sampling very far in advance.

I'm from South America, in my country don't have snow, but I think a good time to start may be immediately after snowmelt, I guess that is the time when they begin to be active

Contact Professor Clarke Scholtz ([email protected]). He’s a world authority on scarabs.

When planning the experiments you must take into account when the grazing season starts. I was conducting study on dung beetle community in western Poland and the cattle appeared on a pasture at the begining of May. In my study I used pitfall traps baited with fresh cow's dung. Dung beetles, particularly aphodiids, were present since March. Nevertheless, cow dung pads were present in May :).

I don't know dung beetles well but we had the same requirement for carabid beetles sampling : starting in "the same time", naturally speaking. We chose a period corresponding to a development stage (flowering) of a common flower in our european gradient. I don't know if it's possible for you regarding the countries you work on but I think it's a relevant solution. Also, you can define a fixed number of hours of sunshine (since january for example) to start but it means that you can't organize the sampling very far in advance.

In the western states of the USA, especially the rangelands, dung beetles appear in the spring following snow melt, but the populations peak and disappear after mid-summer when conditions become hot and dry. Lots of studies have failed to find the beetles because they started too late in the season.

For scarabaeine beetles you could start when they are newly emergd. They will have a pre-breeding feeding period of at least a few weeks before starting to breed. In many parts of the world aduilt beetles are most active in summer. In SW Australia beetles with one generaton a year emerge at the break of season in autumn, while those with two generations emerge in early summer and then early autumn. Breeding (and dung burial) is influenced by seasonal changes in dung quality with highest quality and breeding in spring. You will see there are several answers and you should choose the one that gives you what you want to show. James R_S

Really it is very difficult task to standardize the experimental methodology at the field when you choose many sites throughout Europe. However, my experience, after many years of studies, is that the best period (both diversity and abundance) is from the end of April to mid-July. Also there is a good period to collect dung beetles starting after the rain of September-October until early November. You should concentrate the collecting effort in Scarabaeinae and Geotrupinae, because the species of Aphodiinae are not seed dispersal and many of them are actives at the end of winter.

Following Bajerlein previous experience in Poland, you may standardise the beginning in May in all the places, as you will be sure that activity will be found in this period. If you change the beginning of the experiment at each place, you will introduce an important variable in your analysis, that you may have problems to evaluate objectively in your study. I consider that you shoul try to standardize all the aspects of the design and posteriorely evaluate is place and period of the year has any influence or not. At least in a preliminar assay. Good luck and success in your experiment

In Brazil the best date from starting experiments is september

Respected the normal temperature between 30-35 will be the ideal to carry out Research work on Dung beetles

September in southern hemisphere (Brasil) should be compared with April in Northern Hemisphere (Europe). Nevertheless, 30-35ºC levels of environmental temperature is usually only reached during summer in our continent. Therefore, consider if you want to compare your results with previous research, and try to simulate conditions as similar as possible. I hope it will help. Good luck!

That is, in Spain we say something similar to "In April, hectolitres of water" meaning that it rains a lot; although sometimes it rains more out of this month, especially in the North, where we always wear umbrella; but is the tradition ;-)

In Hong Kong, where at sea level the winter temperatures drop to about 10 degrees C most years,and freezing temperatures are almost annual at 800 or 900m altitude.

Most dung beetles (both Scarabaeinae and Aphodinae) are quite active throughout the winter, even above 500m altitude. I tend to find greater numbers of Dung Beetles in cooler months, though the species diversity is greater in the summer months.

Definitely the April-May. The Mediterranean communities should be active from April to the end of May - first weeks of June (but it is all weather and site dependent), the Central European (N of the Alpes to the Baltic sea) communities should be active from the second half of April till June. The North European (Scandinavia, British islands) communities should be active since the start of May to July (not sure with those - check the work of Hanski and Koskela).

As it was metioned, it is also worth to do an autumn replication, because this is the period when the Geotrupidae should be most active (at least in Czech Republic).

Dear Tanja.

Sounds like a great project, but ambitious. In Africa the activity of dung beetles is tightly coupled to rain. Our rainfall is highly seasonal. So if you were here I would advise you to time the start in each region when you have had 20mm or more of rainfall, in the spring in summer rainfall regions and in the autumn in winter rainfall regions. You could use this yardstick in the Mediterranean regions of Europe, but in the wet bits (which are many) you might want to use a combination of temperature and rainfall. So for instance, if you look in the literature e.g. Patterns of Daily Flight Activity in Onitine Dung Beetles (Scarabaeinae: Onitini) Stanley Caveney, Clarke H. Scholtz, Peter McIntyreSource: Oecologia, Vol. 103, No. 4 (1995), pp. 444-452, you will find that certain species only fly when the temperature is above a lower limit, (19C) in this case. In those regions the start date can be a combination of the first big rainfall after the daily minimum (depends on flight time - nocturnal vs diurnal species) has been reached. You aren't going to get 30-35C that often in N. Europe. I agree about ignoring the Aphodiines; they won't bury seeds.

Article Patterns of daily flight activity in onitine dung beetles (S...

It should be around the rainy season, these beetles have a demographic explosion almost immediately after the first rains. In places with marked seasonality is remarkably noticeable but in the rain forest also occurs (in a less explosive way).

There's no recent literature about it because "it is known" that the best moment is the warmest rainy season (at least in the neotropics where big rains occur at summer and there are some raining at winter).

About your question about tempreature, the is this paper about termorregulation and geographical implications ( http://bit.ly/1l7ht3f ). Jorge Lobo and José Verdú are working with mechanistic models of dung beetles distibution.

I hope this is useful.

Hi Martin Ludmilla

Through my knowledge, the most suitable appointment breeding of this insect is from April until October or November

You may want to contact these people from the University of Nebraska. Historically that school system has had some of the worlds foremost and active experts in this area of research due to the importance of dung beetles in a state known for livestock production. Here is a website - contact them and they will know who to talk with.

http://newsroom.unl.edu/announce/ianrnews/1211/7429

Tanja, if you are planning work around Ghent or elswhere in Belgium or nearby low coastal areas, you might plan for earlier beginnings, such as late April. But it may be best a bit later as you move to higher elevations and farther inland, such as through May and mid to late June, depending on the location. Also, you may get variations depending on the general eco-behavioral group you are dealing with. Endocoprids are typically smaller and may be more active at cooler temperatures, while paracoprids and telocoprids may be larger on average and peak a bit later. I don't have data to support this variation in seasonality, and things may be a bit different here in North America. However, it is a factor you should keep in mind.

Tanja, by the way, let me know if you want to look into comparison sites here in the U.S. My campus site north of Atlanta in the southeastern U.S. is more than 100 square kilometers, with varied environments with livestock and wildlife. Would love to have you visit, and I am also doing some dung beetle work regarding dissemination of pathogens. I am interested in European sites for my work as well, and plan to be working some in the Danube valley this summer. Good luck with your research!