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22 August 2018 Elevational and Possible Bushmeat Exploitation Effects on Dung Beetle (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) Communities on Mount Cameroon, West Central Africa
Elvis Tamenaih Mongyeh, T. Keith Philips, Helen Kuokuo Kimbi, Eric Bertrand Fokam
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Abstract

Dung beetle species richness and abundance on Mt Cameroon were investigated to evaluate the effects of elevation. Surveys were done at five different elevations on the southwest facing slope from 216 to 2,102 m above sea level near the tree line at intervals of ∼500 m. In total, 27 species and 1,886 specimens were collected during the study. No linear relationship between either species richness or beetle abundance and elevation was found with an expected highest diversity and abundance at low elevation and the lowest diversity and abundance at high elevation. Instead, both the highest diversity and abundance were discovered at the middle elevation (914–1,012 m) with 22 species and 48% of the total catch. The highest diversity indices (Shannon and Simpson) were found at the second lowest elevation (522–625 m).The lowest diversity found at the highest elevation (1,974–2,101 m) included only two species and represented only 4% of the beetles sampled. Unexpected low diversity and abundance at the lowest elevation are hypothesized to be due at least in part to the effects of bushmeat hunting in the more accessible lower elevations and the concomitant effects on dung beetles that mainly utilize mammal dung. The most similar faunas based on Morisita-Horn paired comparisons were those at the two highest and the two lowest elevations while the most dissimilar were the middle compared with the highest elevation. Faunas appear to be divided into high and low elevation communities with a boundary or division at c.1,500–1,750 m elevation.

© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Elvis Tamenaih Mongyeh, T. Keith Philips, Helen Kuokuo Kimbi, and Eric Bertrand Fokam "Elevational and Possible Bushmeat Exploitation Effects on Dung Beetle (Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae) Communities on Mount Cameroon, West Central Africa," Environmental Entomology 47(5), 1072-1082, (22 August 2018). https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvy112
Received: 9 December 2017; Accepted: 4 June 2018; Published: 22 August 2018
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KEYWORDS
abundance
dung beetle
elevation
Mount Cameroon
richness
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