(NEW Publication) Dung beetle declines merit global attention

Insect populations are declining worldwide, raising concerns about the loss of biodiversity and essential ecosystem services that insects provide. Yet, despite their ecological importance, some insect groups remain overlooked. Among them are dung beetles, a critically important insect group that provides several important services such as nutrient cycling , soil aeration and seed dispersal.

Graphical abstract. Source: Cavallaro et al. (2026)

In this Forum article published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, we identified an urgent need to bring dung beetles into the global conservation agenda. As part of a global team of ten dung beetle scientists, we presented five main threats to dung beetle populations and six actions that can help mitigate their declines.

Mechanistic framework linking the principal stressors (top) to the biological responses they prompt across varying scales (middle) and the resulting losses of ecosystem services (bottom). Source: Cavallaro et al. (2026)

Through this multi-stakeholder and multipronged approach, we can make an immediate difference in safeguarding dung beetle populations and the essential ecosystem services they provide.

The article is available at: https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/icad.70152