Bison after burns benefit dung beetle abundance in the Southern Great Plains

Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeinae) interactions with prescribed fires and grazer type have been examined, but little has been done to investigate these effects in the Southern Great Plains. We used pitfall traps baited with pig dung to examine dung beetle abundance and diversity, in burned and adjacent unburned patches at a tallgrass prairie and within rangeland in the cross timbers ecoregion. The prairie is grazed by bison, while the cross timbers rangeland is grazed by cattle and goats. A total of 6,936 beetles were captured in this study, and the overall abundance was not significantly different between burned and adjacent unburned patches. Time since burn reduced dung beetle abundance (p < 0.05) at one week after burn. Four weeks and nine weeks after the burn showed no significant differences between burned and unburned patches. Grazing was also examined at these two sites and there was no significant difference found between grazer type, but the abundance with bison after burned was twice that of the patch that had been grazed but not burned at the prairie. These results show that grazing after prescribed burns are not harmful to dung beetle populations.