Dung beetles are globally used in ecological research and are useful for assessing the effects of anthropic and natural changes in environment on biodiversity. Here we investigate how the choice of baits (human feces, cattle dung, carrion or a combination of all three) and sampling season influence the taxonomic and functional diversity of insects captured in traps in Brazilian pastures. We sampled dung beetles in July 2011 (dry season) and January 2012 (rainy season) in eight areas: four pastures with native grasses (e.g., Andropogon spp. and Axonopus spp.) and four pastures with introduced grasses (Urochloa spp.) in Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. To collect the insects, we used pitfall traps baited with carrion, cattle dung and human feces. A total of 7,086 dung beetles of 32 species were captured. In both pasture types, only traps baited with human feces captured similar abundance, species richness, and functional diversity compared with the sum total of beetles captured by the three bait types. The species richness and functional diversity were higher in the rainy season in both pasture types. Our results demonstrate that using human feces alone as bait and sampling dung beetles in the rainy season are potentially sufficient to ensure the greatest number of functional traits, species, and individuals in both pasture types. Thus, the best sampling method observed in this study may be useful for studies focused on dung beetle fauna survey and rigorous comparison among studies on these insects in Brazilian pastures.

The Brazilian Cerrado is the second largest Neotropical biome and an important hotspot of biodiversity. However, land use change in this ecosystem is producing landscapes with modified natural environments and anthropogenic environments, such as exotic pastures. In this study, we evaluated how conversion of native Cerrado vegetation to exotic pastures affects the dung beetle assemblages (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae). We sampled dung beetles in four areas of Cerrado (sensu stricto) and in four areas of exotic pastures (Urochloa spp.) in Aquidauana, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. In all, 7,544 individuals from 43 species of dung beetles were collected, and 19 species were found in both the Cerrado and exotic pastures. The abundance and species richness of dung beetles were higher in Cerrado remnants. Species composition differed between Cerrado and exotic pastures, where 11 species were classified as specialists of Cerrado, 10 species were considered specialists of exotic pastures, and 6 species were habitat generalists. Roller beetles were most negatively affected by exotic pasture establishment. We demonstrated that exotic pasture establishment has a negative impact on dung beetle assemblages in Brazilian Cerrado. The decline in abundance and richness of roller beetles has important implications for the understanding of ecosystem functioning because it can reduce the ecological functions performed by dung beetle assemblages in exotic pastures. Finally, the high number of dung beetle species shared between Cerrado and exotic pastures suggests that the Cerrado remnants is a fundamental requirement for the conservation of biodiversity of dung beetles in exotic pastures in the Brazilian Cerrado.