Erratum: The role of dung beetles in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cattle farming.

نویسندگان

  • Eleanor M Slade
  • Terhi Riutta
  • Tomas Roslin
  • Hanna L Tuomisto
چکیده

Agriculture is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs), with dairy and beef production accounting for nearly two-thirds of emissions. Several recent papers suggest that dung beetles may affect fluxes of GHGs from cattle farming. Here, we put these previous findings into context. Using Finland as an example, we assessed GHG emissions at three scales: the dung pat, pasture ecosystem, and whole lifecycle of milk or beef production. At the first two levels, dung beetles reduced GHG emissions by up to 7% and 12% respectively, mainly through large reductions in methane (CH4) emissions. However, at the lifecycle level, dung beetles accounted for only a 0.05-0.13% reduction of overall GHG emissions. This mismatch derives from the fact that in intensive production systems, only a limited fraction of all cow pats end up on pastures, offering limited scope for dung beetle mitigation of GHG fluxes. In contrast, we suggest that the effects of dung beetles may be accentuated in tropical countries, where more manure is left on pastures, and dung beetles remove and aerate dung faster, and that this is thus a key area for future research. These considerations give a new perspective on previous results, [corrected] and suggest that studies of biotic effects on GHG emissions from dung pats on a global scale are a priority for current research.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

The role of dung beetles in reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cattle farming

Agriculture is one of the largest anthropogenic sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs), with dairy and beef production accounting for nearly two-thirds of emissions. Several recent papers suggest that dung beetles may affect fluxes of GHGs from cattle farming. Here, we put these previous findings into context. Using Finland as an example, we assessed GHG emissions at three scales: the dung pat, pas...

متن کامل

Greenhouse gas emissions from dung pats vary with dung beetle species and with assemblage composition

Cattle farming is a major source of greenhouse gases (GHGs). Recent research suggests that GHG fluxes from dung pats could be affected by biotic interactions involving dung beetles. Whether and how these effects vary among beetle species and with assemblage composition is yet to be established. To examine the link between GHGs and different dung beetle species assemblages, we used a closed cham...

متن کامل

Treating cattle with antibiotics affects greenhouse gas emissions, and microbiota in dung and dung beetles.

Antibiotics are routinely used to improve livestock health and growth. However, this practice may have unintended environmental impacts mediated by interactions among the wide range of micro- and macroorganisms found in agroecosystems. For example, antibiotics may alter microbial emissions of greenhouse gases by affecting livestock gut microbiota. Furthermore, antibiotics may affect the microbi...

متن کامل

Quantifying Beetle-Mediated Effects on Gas Fluxes from Dung Pats

Agriculture is one of the largest contributors of the anthropogenic greenhouse gases (GHGs) responsible for global warming. Measurements of gas fluxes from dung pats suggest that dung is a source of GHGs, but whether these emissions are modified by arthropods has not been studied. A closed chamber system was used to measure the fluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2...

متن کامل

نقش گروه‌های عملکردی سوسک‌های سرگین‌خوار بر میزان آب نفوذ یافته در خاک از سطح مراتع نیمه استپی شهرکرد

The present study was conducted to assess effect of dung beetles function in the soil water infiltration performance on the part of rangeland of university of Sharekord in the form of a completely randomized design within one year. Therefore, the meshes consisted of both large and small size were used and filled with cattle, sheep and goat dung in six treatments (presence of dwellers, tunellers...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • Scientific reports

دوره 6  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2016