IT was clear from the outset that Mingenew Irwin Group (MIG) project officer Rachel Mason was passionate about dung beetles.
"I love bugs and this is my thing," Ms Mason said.
She was clear that despite research having been done in the past there was "still a lot we don't know about dung beetles".
Ms Mason spoke at the recent MIG livestock event at Irwin where she gave a run down of the Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineers project that MIG has been undertaking along with The University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Warren Catchment Council.
The Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineers project aims to fill in the gaps in the distribution of beetles in southern Australia by introducing new species.
"A lot of people see dung beetles as this little guy pushing around his little ball of dung, but there's lots of different types of dung beetles and Australia has 437 known native dung beetles species," Ms Mason said.
"When (settlers) first came here we introduced all of this livestock.
"Kangaroo and marsupial dung is dry and very small so when you think of a lovely big sloppy cow pat, they are very different dung sources and therefore our Australian dung beetles didn't want anything to do with that cow pat.
"What we had for a long time was the cow pat would sit on the surface and our dung beetles would never feed on them."
Ms Mason said in the 1960s a scientist from Europe decided to introduce 41 different dung beetles, which were mainly released in cattle country in Queensland, though some travelled across Australia to the west.
"This project that we have is all about trying to understand what beetles were introduced, when they released them, where they got to and when they are active?" she said.
"There's a whole lot of other things as well, but the main aims of the project are to build up a beetle database so that they know what species are active when and where.
"They are also hoping to rear up beetles from across Australia - still introducing new ones and spread those beetles - while importing new species and strains.
"When we have that database they can then introduce new species to fill the gaps that have been identified and quantify the economic values."
Ms Mason said her role was to raise awareness of "how awesome dung beetles are and the amazing role that they do" on farm for livestock producers.
There are just two types of dung beetles in WA - tunnellers and dwellers.
"Your tunnellers bury the dung below the pad into the ground and the dwellers either hang out in the pad or they bury it just below the surface," she said.
"A dung beetle's life cycle is it will start below ground - the egg gets laid within their dung ball and then it turns from an egg into larva and pupae and then it turns into a beetle - and depending on what time of the year it is active it will come out on the soil and will fly around and find the best pad in the district and they will suck the moisture out of the pat.
"Dung beetles don't actually eat the dung, they eat the moisture and they feed on the microbes that live within that moisture.
"Then once they fatten themselves up they then start to mate."
Ms Mason said male beetles would fight each other for the right to mate with the female using their horns.
"The female does all the work," she said.
"She builds the hole, fills it with dung and then lays her eggs, while the males up the top are fighting to mate with that female.
"Some species have horns and that's what they are for.
"Some males don't have any horns and they know they can't fight, so they will dig a hole and link up with the female hole and mate with her and then disappear while the others are still fighting."
Dung beetles have the ability to fly up to two kilometres.
"They smell out the dung and come for it," Ms Mason said.
"Dung beetles will also feed on sheep dung during spring.
"They are improving the soil - by digging the hole and filling it with dung they are aerating it.
"They are increasing the water and air filtration.
"By filling it with dung they are increasing the nutrients in that area.
"That then leads to increased pasture growth on your paddocks.
"The bigger the beetle the deeper it gets.
"You really want a range of beetles because then you are getting organic matter through all levels of the soil."
Ms Mason said they also helped to reduce the number of bush flies on farm.
"When they bury that dung they reduce the bush fly numbers," she said.
"Bush flies lay their eggs in the dung so by the dung beetles sucking the moisture out the maggots dry out and die.
"Tiny flies are also seen which means that the maggots haven't eaten much before transforming into a fly."
Ms Mason said some species of dung beetles were more active than others and it depended on the soil type and moisture content.
"Closer to the coast they are more active," she said.
MIG has three main roles in the project, covering the whole agricultural region.
"We are doing community engagement such as presentations, working with schools, monitoring sites and trapping," Ms Mason said.
"We also have a breeding site.
"Samples from the traps are sent to UWA for analysing."
MIG started trapping last year and they have been "engaging with school students" to educate about the critters.
"If you don't have dung beetles there could be something wrong in your system," Ms Mason said.
"You probably might have them, you are just not seeing them."
Ms Mason said there were a range of things that affected the numbers of dung beetles on farm, including sprays and drenches, but there was no evidence to suggest by how much and to what degree.
"Foxes will go through a dung pad and eat the beetles out of it," she said.
