DOI: 10.5061/dryad.ngf1vhj7v
title: Rainfall shapes the physiological condition, but not the body size, of an introduced dung beetle in Brazilian pastures

description: Seasonal rainfall patterns play a crucial role in shaping the biology,
 ecology, and physiology of animals, particularly in tropical and
 subtropical ecosystems. Understanding these dynamics is critical under
 climate change scenarios, as shifts in rainfall regimes can disrupt
 phenological and physiological adaptations. However, physiological
 responses of Digitonthophagus gazella (Fabricius, 1787), an African dung
 beetle introduced worldwide for pasture improvement, to seasonal rainfall
 variation remain poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the effects of
 seasonal rainfall on physiological condition of D.
 gazella collected during the dry and rainy seasons in introduced
 Brazilian pastures. So, we developed one dataset containing body condition
 metrics (e.g., body size, body dry mass, lipid mass and muscle mass) of
 males and females of D. gazella sampled in the dry and rainy season in
 pasturelands. We found that seasons did not affect D. gazella body size,
 dry and lipid masses. The dry season had individuals with higher muscle
 mass compared to the rainy season. These findings suggest that D. gazella
 individuals tolerate seasonal fluctuations, which may buffer them against
 seasonal environmental stress. Such plasticity may underlie the species’
 resilience and contribute to its successful establishment and ongoing
 expansion in tropical and subtropical pastures.
description: We sampled beetles in December 2023 (rainy) and July 2024 (dry),
 in two pasturelands sites (<em>Urochloa</em> spp.) in
 Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul. The sampling was carried out using light
 traps and directly from cattle fecal excrement in the pastures to capture
 live beetles. Individuals were individually stored in plastic vials, being
 posteriorly sacrificed in freezers at -5 °C. They were stored 14 days
 before the estimation of dung beetles’ physiological condition. From each
 individual, we measured dry, lipid, and muscle masses as indicators of
 physiological condition.  To obtain the body dry mass,
 the individuals were placed in a desiccator (SolidSteel – SSA; 50 °C) for
 72 h and measured to the nearest 0.0001 mg with a precision balance
 (Gehara AG 200). To extract the lipid mass the beetles were placed
 individually in falcon tubes containing 3mL of chloroform for 48 h, then
 the individuals were placed in the desiccator again for 72 h and the
 difference between the body dry mass and this new mass was considered
 lipid mass (Lee et al., 2004; Plaistow & Siva-Jothy, 1996).
 Finally, the muscle of the beetles was extracted using the method of
 Plaistow & Siva-Jothy (1996) with 0.2 M potassium hydroxide for 48
 h, then the individuals were rinsed with water, re-dried, and re-weighed.
 The difference between the mass without lipid and this new mass was
 considered muscle mass. Body size was estimated as the linear distance
 from the clypeus to the pygidium, with a digital caliper with 0.01 mm of
 precision.
description: # Rainfall shapes the physiological condition, but not the body size, of
 an introduced dung beetle in Brazilian pastures Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.ngf1vhj7v](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ngf1vhj7v) ##
 Description of the data and file structure In this dataset, we provide
 body condition data (e.g., body size, dry body mass, lipid mass, and
 muscle mass) for male and female *D. gazella* individuals collected during
 the dry and rainy seasons in pasturelands. The dataset includes
 information on 200 individuals, with 100 sampled in the rainy season
 (December 2023–January 2024) and 100 in the dry season (July–August 2023),
 from two pastureland sites (*Urochloa* spp.) located in Aquidauana, Mato
 Grosso do Sul, Brazil. ### Files and variables #### File:
 Digitonthophagus_gazella_data.xlsx Information on body condition metrics
 of Digitonthophagus gazella in Excel format ##### Variables * **Seasons**
 – Refers to the two sampling periods in the study: rainy (December
 2023–January 2024) and dry (July–August 2024). * **Trap type** – Refers to
 the two sampling methods used to collect *D. gazella* individuals: Light
 (light trap) and Dung (directly from cattle dung). * **Species** – The
 studied species, *Digitonthophagus gazella*. * **Sex** – Refers to the sex
 of the collected individuals: female and male. * **Body length** –
 Measurement from the clypeus to the pygidium of each individual,
 representing body size (mm). * **Relative body dry mass** – Calculated as
 the individual’s dry body mass divided by its body length (mg/mm). *
 **Relative fat mass** – Calculated as the individual’s fat mass divided by
 its body length (mg/mm). * **Relative muscle mass** – Represents the
 individual’s muscle mass divided by its body length (mg/mm). ##
 Code/software n/a ## Access information Other publicly accessible
 locations of the data: * n/a Data was derived from the following sources:
 * n/a