Analysis Scripts and data for Dung beetle communities in Serengeti savannah
Description
R script and data for analysis of dung beetle communities in relation to soil, habitat, and dung types
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Dung beetle sampling was conducted using pitfall traps along established transects. Sufficient dungs from wildebeest, buffalo and zebra herbivores were collected, packed and get frozen prior to dung beetle sampling to maintain dung volatile and minimize risk of microbial activity. We installed various fresh dungs from these herbivores as baits in different habitats. The traps were half filled with water and few drops of neutral detergents added and left in the field for about 48hrs, but checked and rebaited after 24hr interval. The sampling activity was conducted in 15 days, for an interval of two months from October 2019 to June 2020. The collected samples were well labelled and identified to species and morphospecies levels at the Department of Zoology and Wildlife Conservation, University of Dar es Salaam. To determine driving factors of dung beetle assemblages, vegetation characteristics such as vegetation cover and height were estimated using established quadrats, while ambient temperature, moisture and rainfall data were obtained from meteorological stations with permission from the Tanzania National Parks. The soil properties including moisture, temperature and electrical conductivity were measured in the field, using a mobile soil sensor. The data analysis was performed using different packages in R software. Together with other approaches that we used to determine dung beetle assemblages in this study, we employed Random forest model (RF) to identify the significant predictors and structural equation model (SEM) to establish the causal-effect relationships among independent predictors of dung beetle communities.
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Funders
- UNESCO-CHINA FUNDS-IN-TRUST (CFIT) of the University of Dar es SalaamGrant ID: 4500515966