Interactions between rabbits and dung beetles influence the establishment of Erodium praecox

Abstract

We examine the potential for two species – the wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and the dung beetle Thorectes valencianus – to affect the establishment of Erodium praecox, an endemic plant of the Iberian Peninsula. Rabbit latrines may be considered potential maternal parent areas of E. praecox. The spatial and temporal stability for nutrients and surface irregularities caused by the activity of rabbits increases bare soil areas. A negative relation between diameter of the basal rosettes of Erodium and the distance to the centroid of latrines was observed. Rabbit latrines were important for E. praecox distribution but their effect was higher when T. valencianus burrows exist. In laboratory conditions, a higher number of seeds buried was observed in latrines with dung beetles, while a lower number of seeds buried was observed in bare soil. T. valencianus activity plays the role of a soil fertilizer, increasing the rate of nutrient cycling and microbial activity which could raise the rate of decomposition of pellets and result in the further release of nutrients. The excavation of the dung beetles increases the soil fertilization and the surface irregularities required for the seeds of E. praecox to be easily self-buried.