One dung to attract them all: Faeces attractiveness to dung beetles in herbivore multispecies pasture

Abstract Dung beetles play a decisive part in the degradation of organic matter in grazed ecosystems. The different species can be generalists or specialised in the processing of different resources. Our study took place in a safari zoo where numerous herbivore species coexist in large enclosures. All herbivores are fed a similar standard diet. Thus, potential differences in the attractiveness of their droppings to dung beetles should be only due to specific digestive metabolisms. To test the relative attractiveness of these droppings, we conducted a food‐choice experiment with 52 pitfall traps baited with different combinations of droppings from herbivore species living in the respective enclosures. In total, 411 dung beetles belonging to 16 species were inventoried. The most abundant species was Onthophagus vacca. Equidae droppings were significantly more attractive to dung beetles than Bovinae, Antilopinae or Struthionidae droppings to dung beetles. This study suggests that, in western Europe, the local coexistence of different herbivores does not facilitate the coexistence of species within dung beetle communities. Local dung beetles' feeding preferences for Equidae droppings, contrasting with previous studies, might result from pressures of selection induced by the long‐term presence of the herbivores in an area otherwise poor in available resources and the isolation of the dung beetle populations from alternative food sources. Dung beetle trophic preferences may therefore depend on the context of the landscape structure and megafaunal history where they occur.