As a keystone species of the Great Plains, buffalo play an integral role in the existence of a healthy prairie ecosystem. Without their behaviors, including grazing, trailing, wallowing, and trampling, plant and animal diversity would sharply decline. There is, however, another behavior buffalo engage in that is vital to the nutrient cycling, microorganism action, and insect activity that all contribute to soil health.
Whether you know it as poop, patties, buffalo chips, meadow muffins, or any of its more colorful monikers, buffalo dung is an ecosystem of its own. On any given day, the average buffalo produces 10 to 12 quarts of dung and several gallons of urine. These excretions are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur, and magnesium used by microbes, plants, and animals. Buffalo dung also has a history of association with people. In ages past, it was used as a fuel source, as ceremonial incense, and even as a food source in dire situations.
To understand where the nutrients in dung come from, it is important to consider how buffalo digest their food. Buffalo are classified as ruminants, which means they possess a four-chambered stomach (if you believed they have four separate stomachs, my sincere apologies for bursting your bubble). In the rumen, which is the first of the four chambers, a collection of microbes helps to break down ingested plant matter, which then passes through the remainder of the gut and into the feces.
In a species-rich ecosystem like the prairie, it should be no surprise to learn that as many of 300 different species of insects will live in one buffalo patty. As these insects set up shop in the patty, they will begin to reproduce in earnest, providing a valuable food source for insectivores and herbivores within the ecosystem. One insect, the dung beetle, is particularly adept at helping breakdown buffalo dung into useful components. They will commonly bury fresh dung directly below the surface of the soil, allowing for the microbes living in the soil to begin decomposing the material and accessing the nitrogen and carbon. This nitrogen is then converted into ammonium that is readily available for prairie plants and grasses to use.
Because many dung beetles specialize on the dung of specific animals, like buffalo, they will not interact with the excrement of other animals. When non-native livestock are introduced to ecosystems there is a noted reduction in the ability of ecosystems to effectively utilize fecal nutrients, resulting in the overall function of the ecosystem. Through the reintroduction of native species like buffalo, we are able to help support the needs of prairie insects and microorganisms, which in turn supports the health of the soil and the ecosystem on the whole.
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Read American Buffalo by Steven Rinella