Claim: “the loss of dung beetles…creating a climate doom loop”
“Crisis” is another word tortured beyond recognition.
South African Plum dung beetle (Anachalcos convexus). By Charles J. Sharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography, CC BY-SA 4.0, link
Claim: “the loss of dung beetles … creating a climate doom loop”
Essay by Eric Worrall
Scientists ignoring obvious solutions to problems?
Climate change may cause crisis amid important insect populations, researchers say
By Adam Yamaguchi, Kerry Breen
February 24, 2024 / 11:08 AM EST / CBS NewsThey might be tiny, but insects rule the planet, making up over two-thirds of the world’s 1.5 million known animal species and the backbone of the food chain. But despite their immense impact and large numbers, bugs might be in trouble.
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In greenhouses, Sheldon simulates a warming planet to see how the beetles react. Sheldon and her team have found that smaller dung beetles struggle to dig deep enough to protect their offspring from the warming climate and extreme temperature swings.
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While climate change is contributing to insect population declines, the loss of dung beetles may in turn exacerbate extreme swings in temperature, creating a climate doom loop.
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Kimberly Sheldon seems to have written a bunch of similar dung beetle climate studies, so I’m not sure which one the CBS article refers to. Maybe all of them.
In my opinion the premise of the claim is nonsense. Dung beetles are in no danger of dying out due to climate change, because there is a substantial reservoir of hot weather extremophile dung beetles which could be used to supplement any local species which are struggling with the weather.
Between 1965 and 1985, a dung beetle introduction project was run in Australia, in which beetles from Europe, Africa and North America were introduced in an attempt to reduce buffalo fly populations. Native dung beetles couldn’t deal with dung from introduced cattle, and blood sucking Buffalo Flies, which breed in cattle dung, and cause irritation and sores on cattle, were a serious agricultural problem.
Unlike Australia’s infamous Cane Toad disaster, the dung beetle introduction was a success. While Buffalo Flies are still a significant problem, the introduced dung beetles reduced dung available for flies to breed, and substantially mitigated the problem.
But what about the impact on the dung beetles? Those introduced dung beetles have had decades, 10s, perhaps hundreds of generations, to adapt to Australia’s scorching hot climate. We know the beetles are completely compatible with the cattle industry, because they were specifically introduced to mitigate a cattle pest.
My point is, even if the very worst climate predictions came true, there is no chance dung beetles in the USA would fail. if necessary, faltering US dung beetle populations could be supplemented with their hot climate relatives from Australia, ensuring the continuity of the species and the important service they provide.
I find it difficult to believe an expert like Kimberly Sheldon would not be aware of the hot climate reservoir of European descended dung beetles in Australia. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt, perhaps Kimberly did mention the possibility of transplanting hot climate dung beetles, but this information somehow got left out of the CBS article.
There is certainly no shortage of dung for the beetles to thrive on.
Anything for "research" funding