Date: November 17, 2016
Source: University of Bristol
Scientists from the University of
Bristol have found that dung beetles can help farmers by reducing the
development and survival of parasites in cowpats that cause serious illness in
cattle during the summer months.
The study was led by Bryony Sands
from the School of Biological Sciences, a NERC-funded PhD student and is
published in the Journal of Applied Ecology.
Artificial cow pats were made
using faeces collected elsewhere and were manipulated by adding dung beetles
and varying simulated rainfall. After two weeks, parasitic larvae were taken
from vegetation surrounding the cow pats.
The numbers of parasitic larvae
found on vegetation around pats increased over the first six weeks, and
remained high for at least ten weeks.
At first, there were more
parasites found around pats that were colonised by dung beetles as opposed to
un-colonised pats.
However, after eight weeks, fewer
parasitic larvae were found around pats that were colonised by dung beetles. This
pattern persisted for the rest of the ten week experiment.
Increased rainfall was achieved
by periodically watering the pats. This led to more parasitic larvae being
found on the pasture, suggesting that reduced development and survival of
livestock parasites as a result of dung beetle activity can be overridden by
heavy rainfall.
It was suggested that dung beetle
activity ventilates cow pats, providing the right initial conditions for
parasite egg hatching.
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