Effects of the veterinary anthelmintic moxidectin on dung beetle survival and dung removal
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Macrocyclic lactones (MLs) are chemical compounds administered to livestock for parasite control. These compounds are poorly metabolized and pass relatively unchanged into the dung of treated animals. When coprophagous insects such as dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea) are exposed to ML residues while feeding on dung, lethal and sublethal effects are often observed. This can lead to ML residues impairing ecosystem functions that underpin agricultural production. A strategy to reduce these negative effects involves the use of compounds that offer lower risk to non‐target invertebrates, such as the ML moxidectin. Considering two dung beetle species with differing sensitivities to agricultural intensification, we asked whether exposure to moxidectin residues influenced survival, reproductive output, and functioning (short‐ and long‐term estimates of dung removal). When exposed to moxidectin, adults of the sensitive species – Geotrupes spiniger Marsham (Scarabaeidae) – experienced a 43% reduction in survival. In contrast, survival of the non‐sensitive species – Aphodius rufipes L. (Scarabaeidae) – was unaffected. We were unable to determine whether exposure affected reproductive output of either species. We found little evidence to suggest moxidectin impaired dung removal. However, high densities of a species with relatively low individual functional importance (A. rufipes) can compensate for the loss of a functionally dominant species (G. spiniger). Over a longer time frame, earthworms decomposed dung fully, irrespective of moxidectin residues. This functional redundancy reinforces that wider justification for the conservation of biodiversity should remain integrated into agricultural policy and practice.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".