CSIRO imports dung beetles to help clear paddocks of poo problem

Dung beetles imported from Morocco are quarantining at Black Mountain ahead of their eventual release to help clear Australian paddocks of a poo problem.

The new arrivals, part of a biocontrol method used by CSIRO since the 1960s, will hopefully fill a gap in dung beetle activity from the southern states, right up into Western Australia.

They will join 23 species of dung beetles already established in Australia, tasked with returning cattle and sheep poo back into the soil.

CSIRO entomologist Dr Valerie Caron said, at present, the dung beetles already released in Australia were not doing their job over Spring, meaning paddocks were accumulating poo.

A dung dense paddock meant less feed for farm animals and a breeding ground for bushflies, she said.

According to Dr Caron, in the 1960s in Canberra, the bushflies were so bad restaurants didn't serve diners outdoors.

"When Europeans came to Australia we brought all those livestock with us that produce a lot of dung, and our native dung fauna are not adapted to use it," she said.

"So all the dung from the cattle and the sheep just kept accumulating on the ground, and that's breeding ground for the bushflies."

Dr Caron said, in addition to reducing feed for livestock, the runoff from dung pollutes waterways and keeps nutrients on top of the soil, rather than under the surface.

"Dung beetles play a really important role in the environment because they are recyclers," she said. "They are really ecosystem engineers."

The species currently quarantining in Canberra are what Dr Caron called "a roller".

"They're really cool," she said.

"They take a little chunk of dung and they make a little ball and they just roll it away from the dung pad, which is really cute."

The CSIRO has worked with a university in Morocco and its European laboratory in Montpellier France, as well as several universities and institutions in Australia, to deliver dung beetles Down Under.

Morocco is the choice destination due to its high density of dung beetles and its similar climate to Australia, Dr Caron said.

"In lots of parts of the world dung beetle populations have decreased, but not in Morocco," she said.

Moroccan farmers tend to use less chemicals which impact dung beetles, including cow drench, according to Dr Caron.

"They also have lots of little flocks moved around the countryside and for that reason, there's heaps and heaps of dung beetles, it's crawling with them," she said.

With a long history of biocontrol programs, including dozens of potential plant species currently being tested and considered, the process for releasing such agents is careful and controlled.

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"Australia has the best biosecurity regulations in the world," Dr Caron said. "And we definitely follow all of them."

The adults are cleaned before they are brought into Australia, to remove any mites which may try to hitchhike in, Dr Caron said.

They are then starved for three days to ensure nothing dangerous is inside their guts, before they enter strict quarantine, she said.

"The only thing we can take out of quarantine are eggs and they have been surface sterilized," Dr Caron said.

"And that's how we ensure we don't bring in anything nasty."

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