DOI: 10.5061/dryad.pg4f4qrx3
title: Dung beetles increase plant growth: A meta-analysis

description: The ecosystem services provided by dung beetles are well-known and valued.
 Dung beetles bury dung for feeding and breeding, and it is generally
 thought that the process of burying dung increases nutrient uptake by
 plant roots, which promotes plant growth. Many studies have tested the
 effects of dung beetles on plant growth, but there has been no
 quantitative synthesis of these studies. Here we use a multi-level
 meta-analysis to estimate the average effect of dung beetles on plant
 growth and investigate factors that moderate this effect. We identified 28
 publications that investigated dung beetle effects on plant growth. Of
 these, 24 contained the minimum quantitative data necessary to include in
 a meta-analysis. Overall, we found that dung beetles increased plant
 growth by 17 %; the 95 % CI for possible values for the true increase in
 plant growth that were most compatible with our data, given our
 statistical model, ranged from 1 to 35 %. We found evidence that the dung
 beetle–plant growth relationship is influenced by the plant measurement
 type and the number of beetles accessing the dung. However, beetles did
 not increase plant growth in all quantitative trials, as individual effect
 sizes ranged from -72 % – 806 %, suggesting important context-dependence
 in the provision of ecosystem services.
description: On 3<sup>rd</sup> November 2023, we conducted a
 literature search on the <em>Scopus</em> and <em>Web of
 Science </em>databases with the following search terms:
 (("dung beetle*" OR scarabaei*) AND (herb* OR pasture
 OR plant* OR primary OR seedling*) AND (growth OR increase* OR product* OR
 yield)) From this literature search, we identified 26
 studies (containing 677 study outcomes) that compared the difference in
 plant growth between areas with untouched dung (dung only) and areas with
 dung colonised solely by dung beetles (dung+beetles).
 The reported results and experiment parameters from the 677 study
 outcomes were recorded in the meta_analysis_data.csv dataset.
description: # Dung beetles increase plant growth: a meta-analysis We conducted a
 literature search to identify studies that compared the difference in
 plant growth between areas with untouched dung (dung only) and areas with
 dung colonised solely by dung beetles (dung+beetles). From this literature
 search, we identified 26 studies (containing 677 study outcomes) and
 recorded the results and experiment parameters of each study outcome in
 the meta_analysis_data.csv file.   Details of the meta_analysis_data.csv
 file are as follows: STUDYID: Unique identifier for each publication YEAR:
 Year of publication ACCESSION_ID: Unique identifier for each publication
 outcome MULTIPLE_ENDPOINT_CLUSTERID: Whenever multiple plant traits were
 measured from the same plant at the same time, or when a single plant
 trait was measured from the same plant at different times, those outcomes
 received the same MULTIPLE_ENDPOINT_CLUSTERID SHAREDCONTROL_CLUSTERID:
 Identifies the number of unique control groups within each study
 TREATMENT: Treatment group DUNG_BEETLE_SPECIES: Species of dung beetle/s
 present FUNCTIONAL_GROUP: Dung beetle functional group
 INDIVIDUAL_DUNG_BEETLE_DRY_MASS_IN_MG: Dry mass (mg) of the individual
 dung beetle NUMBER_OF_BEETLES: Number of dung beetles
 TOTAL_BEETLE_WEIGHT_IN_MG: Total weight (mg) of all dung beetles
 SPECIES_RICHNESS: Total number of dung beetle species
 PERCENTAGE_FEMALE_BEETLES: Percentage of beetles that are female
 DAYS_OF_BEETLE_ACCESS: Number of days that beetles could access dung
 BEETLES_CONFINED_TO_CAGE: If dung beetles were confined to a cage
 POT_OR_PLOT_SIZE: Description of pot/plot size SURFACE_AREA_CM_SQUARED:
 Pot/plot surface area (cm squared) DUNG_QUANTITY_IN_GRAMS: Dung quantity
 (g) DUNG_TYPE: Type of animal dung DUNG_FROZEN_PRIOR_TO_ALIQUOTTING: If
 the dung was frozen prior to experimental use
 DUNG_REMOVED_AFTER_BEETLE_ACTIVITY: If the dung was removed after beetle
 activity PLANTS_GERMINATED_BEFORE_DUNG_ADDITION: If plants had germinated
 before dung addition PLANT_TYPE: Life stage of plant PLANT_TYPE2: Life
 stage of plant (and plant quantity) PLANT_SPECIES: Plant species CLADE:
 Plant clade DAYS_OF_PLANT_GROWTH: Days of plant growth measured
 RESPONSE_AREA: Area of plant measured RESPONSE_MEASUREMENT: Plant
 measurement type RESPONSE: Area and type of plant measurement TREATMENT_N:
 Number of treatment replicates (sample size) TREATMENT_MEAN: Mean of
 treatment replicates TREATMENT_SD: Standard deviation of treatment
 replicates TREATMENT_SE: Standard error of treatment replicates
 CONTROL_TREATMENT: Control group that was compared to treatment group
 CONTROL_N: Number of control replicates (sample size) CONTROL_MEAN: Mean
 of control replicates CONTROL_SD: Standard deviation of control replicates
 CONTROL_SE: Standard error of control replicates DATA_SOURCE: Source of
 the control and treatment measurement results EXPERIMENT_SETTING:
 Experiment setting EXPERIMENT_LOCATION: Experiment location SOIL_TYPE:
 Soil type NOTES: Additional notes