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      Increasing sika deer population density may change resource use by larval dung beetles

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          Abstract

          Because animal feces contain organic matter and plant seeds, dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) are important for the circulation of materials and secondary seed dispersal through burying feces. Dung beetles are usually generalists and use the feces of various mammals. Additionally, the larval stages have access to feces from only one mammal species leaving them susceptible to changes in animal fauna and variations in animal populations. Here, we explain the effects of resource availability changes associated with sika deer ( Cervus nippon) overabundance on dung beetle larvae feeding habits in Japan. δ 15N values were notably higher in raccoon dog and badger dung than in that of other mammals. A dung beetle breeding experiment revealed that the δ 15N values of dung beetle exoskeletons that had fed on deer feces during their larval stage were significantly lower than those of beetles that had fed on raccoon dog feces. The δ 15N values of the adult exoskeleton were significantly lower in a deer high-density area than in a low-density area in large dung beetles only. It is possible that the high-quality feces, such as those of omnivores, preferred by the large beetles decrease in availability with an increase in deer dung; large beetles may therefore be unable to obtain sufficient high-quality feces and resort to using large amounts of low-quality deer feces. Small dung beetles may use the easily obtained feces that is in high abundance and they may also use deer feces more frequently with increases in deer density. These findings suggest that a larval resource shift associated with deer overabundance may affect ecosystem functions such as soil nutrient cycling and seed dispersal.

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          Fitting Linear Mixed-Effects Models Usinglme4

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            Influence of diet on the distribution of nitrogen isotopes in animals

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              Stepwise enrichment of 15N along food chains: Further evidence and the relation between δ15N and animal age

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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: InvestigationRole: ResourcesRole: Writing – original draft
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Data curationRole: MethodologyRole: ResourcesRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Data curationRole: Formal analysisRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Methodology
                Role: Investigation
                Role: ConceptualizationRole: Funding acquisitionRole: InvestigationRole: ResourcesRole: SupervisionRole: Writing – review & editing
                Role: Editor
                Journal
                PLoS One
                PLoS ONE
                plos
                plosone
                PLoS ONE
                Public Library of Science (San Francisco, CA USA )
                1932-6203
                5 December 2019
                2019
                : 14
                : 12
                : e0226078
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Japan
                [2 ] United Graduate School of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Japan
                [3 ] Department of Ecology, UNESP Sao Paulo State University, Botucatu, Sao Paulo, Brazil
                [4 ] Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
                [5 ] Institute of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Japan
                [6 ] Institute of Global Innovation Research, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Japan
                CONICET - Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, ARGENTINA
                Author notes

                Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6646-8779
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1610-7828
                Article
                PONE-D-19-23775
                10.1371/journal.pone.0226078
                6894820
                31805107
                809291c3-2cfd-437e-816f-47bce1073827
                © 2019 Yama et al

                This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 23 August 2019
                : 18 November 2019
                Page count
                Figures: 4, Tables: 3, Pages: 15
                Funding
                This study was funded partly by a Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows (grant number 16H02555: https://kaken.nii.ac.jp/en/grant/KAKENHI-PROJECT-16H02555/) to S. Koike and by the Institute of Global Innovation Research at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology ( https://en.tuat-global.jp/) to S. Koike. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
                Categories
                Research Article
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Mammals
                Ruminants
                Deer
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Invertebrates
                Arthropoda
                Insects
                Beetles
                Dung Beetles
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Mammals
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Mammals
                Raccoons
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Mammals
                Dogs
                Biology and life sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Mammals
                Primates
                Monkeys
                Old World monkeys
                Macaque
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Organisms
                Eukaryota
                Animals
                Vertebrates
                Amniotes
                Mammals
                Badgers
                Biology and Life Sciences
                Zoology
                Animal Physiology
                Exoskeleton
                Custom metadata
                All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.

                Uncategorized
                Uncategorized

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