Variations of coprophagous Scarabaeoidea assemblages in mountain ecosystems

On Thursday, 10 December 2009, during the meeting of Specialised Scientific Council of Zoology and Ecology, Higher Attestation Commission, Evgeni Chehlarov, a PhD student of the Institute of Zoology, successfully defended his thesis, entitled 'Spatial and temporal variations of coprophagous Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera) assemblages in mountain ecosystems'.

The work presents the results of study on dung beetle assemblages in two mountains in Bulgaria - West Rhodopes and Vitosha. In West Rhodopes 6 species was recorded for first time for the regional assemblage, as one of them was new for the fauna of Bulgaria. Twenty seven of the species found for first time in Vitosha, as one of them was not recorded till now for the whole area of the Balkan Peninsula. The completeness of species richness was estimate to 90-96% using three species-accumulation curves and seven non-parametric richness estimators. Analysis of similarities and dissimilarities between dung beetle assemblages was accomplished. The species richness turnover along the altitudinal gradient was done using the Cody index of beta-diversity. The results of the altitudinal species richness variation, suggest that in West Rhodopes the horizontal type colonisation predominates, while in Vitosha the vertical type has greater proportion.

Comparison between West Rhodopes and Iberian Central System shows that the substitution among higher taxa (Aphodiidae-Geotrupidae vs. Scarabaeidae) and species richness variation with the altitude is similar. Unlike Iberian Central System, Rhodopes dung beetle assemblages are characterised by a significantly lower proportion of narrowly distributed species and a lower relevance of Aphodiinae species in lowland places.