Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32894289›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental entomology2020

Carbon Neutral: The Failure of Dung Beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) to Affect Dung-Generated Greenhouse Gases in the Pasture.

Fallon Fowler, Steve Denning, Shuijin Hu, Wes Watson

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental entomology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 24% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Fallon FowlerDepartment of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Grinnells Animal Health Laboratories, Raleigh, NC.
Steve DenningDepartment of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Grinnells Animal Health Laboratories, Raleigh, NC.
Shuijin HuDepartment of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
Wes WatsonDepartment of Entomology and Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Grinnells Animal Health Laboratories, Raleigh, NC.
North Carolina State University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Research suggests dung beetles can churn, aerate, and desiccate dung in ways that influence the dung and soil microbes producing greenhouse gases (GHGs). We examined the impacts of the tunneling beetle, Onthophagus taurus (Schreber), and the dwelling beetle, Labarrus pseudolividus (Balthasar), on the carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) emitted from pasture-laid bovine dung as well as their sum-total (CO2 + CH4 + N2O) effect on global warming, or their carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Despite dung beetles potential effects on CH4 and N2O, the existing literature shows no ultimate CO2e reductions. We hypothesized that more dung beetles would degrade pats faster and reduce CO2e, and so we increased the average dung beetle biomass per dung volume 6.22× above previously published records, and visually documented any dung damage. However, the time effects were 2-5× greater for any GHG and CO2e (E = 0.27-0.77) than dung beetle effects alone (E = 0.09-0.24). This suggests that dung beetle communities cannot adequately reduce GHGs unless they can accelerate dung decomposition faster than time alone.

Indexed as

ColeopteraGreenhouse GasesAffectAnimalsCarbon DioxideCattleGreenhouse EffectMethaneNitrous OxideSoilCarbon DioxideGreenhouse GasesMethaneNitrous OxideSoildung beetledung decompositiondwellinggreenhouse gastunneling

Identifiers

PMID32894289
PMCPMC7568522
OpenAlexW3084208993

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.