Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) community response to clear-cutting in the Missouri Ozarks

This study provides initial evidence that dung beetle community composition changes in response to complete removal of the forest canopy in the Missouri Ozark region. It suggests that both diversity and the abundance of forest species would decline, putting local populations in danger of extinction. Given that maintenance of biodiversity is a goal of MOFEP and ecosystem management in general, this study provides preliminary support for timber harvesting regimens that temporally stagger the harvest of neighboring sites, so that large tracts of adjacent forest are never cut simultaneously. Future studies should sample throughout the growing season, as well as across multiple years, and couple this sampling with manipulative experiments to determine the robustness of our results and the mechanisms for observed changes.