Ramón Eduardo Rebolledo Ranz

By Ramón Rebolledo Ranz, Ricardo González Jiménez, Mario Elgueta Donoso, Rubén Palma Millanao, Vivian Medel Meza and Mauricio Reyes Schencke

Dung beetles are insects that provide a large-scale ecosystem service worldwide through their role in the decomposition of manure from livestock, thereby providing a series of environmental services, such as nutrients recycling, control of internal parasites of livestock whose eggs are in the feces, soil aeration, spreading of seeds and maintenance of ecological balance. Dung beetles are broadly classified according to their nesting behavior in three categories as telecoprids, paracoprids and endocoprids. Telecoprids are the rollers that make balls from feces and roll them into the ground; paracoprids are the tunnellers that bury the dung balls at different depths, forming galleries in the ground below or next to the food source and endocoprids, who are the dwellers that raise their larvae inside feces. There are 10 native species of dung beetles recorded in Chile, apart from 10 species of Aphodiinae, plus two introduced species, such as Onitis vanderkelleni and Onthophagus gazella. Dung beetles species were prospected in La Araucania Region and registered Homocopris torulosus, Frickius variolosus, Podotenus fulviventris and Aphodius pseudolividus. We found that species from genus Homocopris, Podotenus and Aphodius were distributed from 0 to 2000 m above sea level, while F. variolosus was distributed over an altitude of 350 m.

Part of the book: Insect Physiology and Ecology

By Hernán Navarrete Parra and Ramón Rebolledo Ranz

Considering that butterflies (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) are sensitive to physical and climatic changes, e.g. of temperature, humidity and solar radiation, produced by disturbances in their habitat, a survey of this group was carried out in a small remnant of native forest (Rucamanque) in the central valley of the Araucanía Region of Chile. The object was to record the composition, abundance and diversity of Rhopalocera in grassland, forest and the ecotone between them during spring and summer. The study recorded 1190 individual butterflies belonging to 25 species, 18 genera, 8 sub-families and 4 families. The highest values of species richness and abundance were obtained in the summer, of 25 species and 953 individuals; in the spring, 9 species were recorded with a total of 237 individuals. The greatest diversity and homogeneity were found in the ecotone habitat (H′=3.86; J′=0.88; λ =0.08); the values for grassland were (H′=2.73; J′=0.67; λ =0.23) and for forest (H′=2.55; J′=0.71; λ =0.23); these environments being less diverse and more homogeneous. The greatest taxocenotic similarity was found between grassland and the ecotone (54%), and the least similarity appeared between the ecotone and forest (34%). The greatest biocenotic similarity was found between the ecotone and forest (48%), and the lowest correspondence was between grassland and forest (4.18%).

Part of the book: Lepidoptera

By Ramón Rebolledo Ranz

Part of the book: Beekeeping