Abstract: From June 2008 to September 2009, an investigation was made on the species diversity, population structure, functional group, and feeding preference of dung beetles in the fresh dung of horse, cattle, and sheep in  Inner Mongolian typical steppe. A total of 7805 dung beetles were captured, belonging to 3 families, 4 genera, and 32 species. Aphodius comma, A. erraticus, and A. sordecens were the dominant species, with their individual number occupied 42.62%, 13.26%, and 11.64% of the total, respectively. In the fresh livestock dung, there were 3 kinds of functional groups, i.e., telocoprid, paracoprid, and endocoprid, among which, endocoprid had the highest numbers of species and individuals. The richness index of the dung beetle assemblage was the highest in horse dung, Shannon index was the highest in cattle dung, and evenness index was the highest in sheep dung. The dung beetles had obvious feeding preference to the 3 kinds of livestock dung, and most of them preferred fresh horse- and cattle dung.  Horse dung pats had bigger volume, moderate water content, more undigested plant fiber, and easy dryness, being able to supply moderate and temporary habitat for the feeding activity of endocoprids; while cattle dung pats had higher water content, slower water-losing, and easy breaking-up, being the longer term micro-habitat for most paracoprids. Obviously, the habit preference of the dung beetles was mainly related to the characteristics and availability of livestock dung, and also, related to the biological and ecological features of the dung beetles.

Key words: Zooplankton, Ecological characteristics, Spring, East China Sea, Red tide