Diversity and Abundance of Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scaraebidae) at Several Different Ecosystem Functions in Peninsular Malaysia

摘要

Dung beetles has known for its bioindicator characteristic. Sensitive towards forest disturbance, dung beetles population and diversity will be less in disturbed and modified area. The objective of this study is to evaluate the diversity and distribution of dung beetles in different type of ecosystems in Peninsular Malaysia. Fifteen baited pitfall traps aligned in three transects were used in this study. Samples were collected after 24 h and repeated three time collections and identified afterwards. Two ecosystem types were selected, which are forested and agricultural ecosystem (livestock and plantation). A total of 4249 individuals, 47 species, in 11 genera was successfully collected from all localities. The H' index for Fraser Hill, Langkawi, Bangi Reserve Forest, Selangor (HSB), Sungkai Reserve Forest, Perak (SRF), Chini Lake, Bera Lake, chicken farm, goat farm, Longan plantation, and palm oil plantation were 1.58, 1.74, 2.17, 2.63, 1.80, 1.52, 1.63, 0.46, 0.00 and 1.98 respectively.Forest ecosystem, SRF shows the highest abundance (1486 individuals) and diversity, while for agricultural ecosystem, palm oil plantation shows the highest with 273 individuals and 16 species. Based onDetrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) shows two groups that separate forest ecosystem with the agricultural ecosystem, with palm oil is the nearest to the forest. Palm oil ecosystem can sustain a dung beetles population due to the area can provide the requirements for the dung beetles to survive, such as food which comes from local domestic cows, shade from sunlight provide by the palm oil trees, and ground cover from small plants and shrubs. Even though modified ecosystem should have lower diversity of dung beetles, but some factors must be measured as well in order to have a better point of view.