Who prefers the dark? Daily activity of dung beetles from an Amazonian region

Temporal niche partitioning is an important mechanism for minimizing interspecific competition and promoting species coexistence in complex ecosystems. This allows sympatric competing species to exploit resources at different times of the day, minimizing direct competition, and provides insights into the evolutionary processes of circadian distribution of communities, resource availability, and intra- and interspecific competitive pressure. In this study, we examined how diel activity patterns (nocturnal and diurnal periods) of dung beetle assemblages (species richness, abundance, and assemblage structure) within a conserved region of Amazonian forest. To achieve this, we sampled dung beetles using pitfall traps baited with human feces during the day and night in a conserved Amazonian forest. Overall, we sampled a total of 430 individuals and 32 species. While dung beetle species richness and abundance did not differ significantly between day and night, a pronounced shift in species com..., Study area
Fieldwork was carried out in June 2022 at the RAPELD module of the Instituto de Biodiversidade e Conservação da Amazônia (IBCAM), near Presidente Figueiredo, Amazonas, Brazil (1°45'S, 60°08'W). The site is a conserved terra-firme forest with minimal human disturbance and a tropical monsoon climate according to the Köppen classification.
Data collection
We performed one 24-h sampling cycle using 24 baited pitfall traps — 12 active during daytime (06:00–18:00) and 12 during nighttime (18:00–06:00). Traps were arranged as 12 sampling points (pairs ~5 m apart) spaced ≥ 100 m to standardize effort, and baited with ≈25 g fresh human feces (an appropriate sampling method to estimate dung beetle assemblages, see Mora-Aguilar et al., 2023 and Salomão et al., 2021). Specimens were identified to species or morphospecies using regional keys and the INPA entomological collection (Vaz-de-Mello et al. 2011).
Data analysis
Sample completeness was assessed with sample-coverage estimators (iNE..., # Data from: Who prefers the dark? Daily activity of dung beetles from an Amazonian region

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.djh9w0wdx](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.djh9w0wdx)

## Description of the data and file structure

This database contains the supplementary material, the raw data used to analyse the data of the manuscript, as well as the statistics. In this dryad file, we will clarify the meaning of each data point and table.

### Files and variables

#### File: Supplementary_material_Article_Day_Night.xlsx

**Description:** 

In the following lines, we have explained column data that are not self-explanatory in the tables of this Dryad file.

In the 'Data' table:

##### Variables

* Species : Scientific name or identifier of the dung beetle species.
* Diel_activity : Diel activity period: diurnal (active during the day) or nocturnal (active during the night).
* Body_Size_mm : Measured body size of individuals in millimeters.
* Nesting_behaviour : Type of nesting behavior: Tunneler, ...,