Environmental responses and ecological roles of organisms can be understood by investigating traits. While consistent frameworks have been developed and widely used for plants, they are lacking for animal groups. In this paper, led by Indra deCastro-Arrazola and Joaquín Hortal we used dung beetles as a model system to develop a framework to study the functional ecology of animals from a trait-based response-effect approach. We reviewed which dung beetle traits respond to the environment and affect ecosystem processes and identify 66 response/effect traits categorized into 6 categories: morphology, feeding, reproduction, physiology, activity, and movement. We also identified 136 trait-response and 77 trait-effect relationships in dung beetles, highlighting the interrelationships between traits and the multi-functionality of traits. This paper is a labour of love from a group of dedicated dung beetle ecologists, who despite rejections of funding support, met in Madrid and online during covid to discuss and debate, and enjoy the company of other dung beetle enthusiasts! It is papers like this that are the biggest achievements! We hope that this paper provides the foundation for further development of trait-based dung beetle ecology and serves as an example framework for other taxa.
Read the full paper here published in Journal of Animal Ecology.