• Changes in Dung Beetle Diversity and Community Composition Among Trap Types and Across a Habitat Type Gradient in Singapore

Dung beetles are ecologically important and act as bioindicators of mammal populations and biodiversity health of the forest. The academic landscape for dung beetle studies is only recently beginning to take a foothold in Singapore, where unbiased trappings and an estimate of populations in urban areas are still greatly lacking. The highly urbanized landscape as well as the local extinction of large mammals in Singapore may possibly threaten local dung communities as well. To fill this research gap, we conducted a study to determine the changes in dung beetle diversity and community composition among trap types and across a habitat type gradient in Singapore. Flight Interception Traps and differently baited Pitfall Traps were utilized to assess dung beetle diversity metrics and community composition amongst different Habitat Types: Forests, Forested Parks and Urban Parks. The range of traps used not only served as a basis of comparison but also provided a means for unbiased trapping for an overview of dung beetle assemblages across Singapore. It is observed from our results that dung beetle abundance, species richness and Shannon’s diversity generally decrease along the habitat gradient from Forest to Urban Park, although the effect of Habitat Type is not statistically significant on the diversity metrics. The effect of Trap Type, meanwhile, is statistically significant on the diversity metrics. Both Habitat Type and Trap Type have a statistically significant effect on the community composition that is not due to dispersion of the data. Given that this is just a short-term study, more work needs to be done to better understand the dung beetle communities in Singapore.