ON FARM SOUTHERN CATTLE AND SHEEP CARBON NEUTRAL New dung beetles rolling through The team behind the Monitoring water infiltration, making farms more Dung Beetle Ecosystem DBEE technical research coordinator, resilient and quicker to recover in times Engineers (DBEE) project Charles Sturt senior research fellow Dr of drought; they retain nutrients on‑farm, are working away as Russ Barrow has been busy on another preventing run‑off into waterways and busily as their insect partners component of the project: monitoring reducing fertiliser requirements; they to mass‑rear their first imported the introduced dung beetle species prevent the build‑up of fly and worm currently distributed in southern eggs; and they reduce greenhouse gas species in preparation for release. emissions and sequester carbon in the Australia across at least 120 sites. After meeting some of the toughest soil,” Paul said. importation requirements in the world, Russ is one of several team members working to establish the sites and train“I’d like producers to see dung beetles CSIRO and Charles Sturt University as miniature livestock and manage researchers are breeding up a project partners in monitoring protocols.their systems carefully – including Moroccan strain of the dung beetle, “Twenty‑three species have established being aware of what they’re drenching Onthophagus vacca. in Australia since CSIRO began animals with and when – to ensure The goal is for the spring‑active beetle releasing them in the 1960s,” Russ said.beetles are protected and encouraged.” to help fill seasonal and geographical “We’re looking to gather data on current A key outcome of the project will be a gaps in current dung beetle activity in dung beetle species, location and website containing regionally specific southern Australia, a climate similar to abundance, to identify any gaps we can dung beetle management advice. ■ its home range. overcome through breeding, trapping Dr Valerie Caron, who leads CSIRO’s and redistribution.” Paul Meibusch international biocontrol team in Miniature livestock E: p.meibusch@colere.com.au Canberra, said importing any live animal dungbeetle@csu.edu.au into Australia takes time and paperwork. DBEE program manager and agricultural consultant Paul Meibusch is looking dungbeetles.com.au “The beetles were collected in Morocco forward to the day when livestock The project is supported by MLA before being formally identified and producers manage their dung beetles through funding from the cleaned at CSIRO’s laboratory in just like they do their sheep and cattle. Australian Government’s Rural France,” Valerie said. Research and Development for “After receiving the import permit we “Dung beetles have so many benefits for Profit program brought about 2,000 beetles into producers: they improve soil health and our quarantine facility in Canberra for rearing.” Despite the challenges of rearing in quarantine (only sterilised eggs can be released from quarantine and the sterilisation process can reduce the fitness of subsequent adults) the team was able to deliver the first batch of O. vacca beetles to Charles Sturt in May. Charles Sturt will manage the mass‑rearing of tens of thousands of beetles at various rearing facilities, before transferring them to on‑farm nurseries for further assessment, before releasing them at strategic sites over the next four years. CSIRO’s French team are now assessing three more Moroccan species, with the aim of importing and CSIRO researchers Elissa Rice, Dr Valerie Caron and Patrick Gleeson with a shipment of dung rearing the two species which are most beetles from Morocco, via CSIRO in France. efficient at burying dung. Source: CSIRO 28