Welcome to the Worldwide Dragonfly Association

The WDA is an international organization dedicated to research, conservation and public awareness of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), an ancient and beautiful order of insects with amazing behaviour. On this site, we offer information of our activities, details on past and future International Congresses of Odonatology (ICO), opportunities for young researchers, and details about WDA membership. The WDA provides financial support to a WDA student member to attend the ICO through the Richard Rowe Congress Grant. The WDA also supports research and conservation initiatives worldwide through the Philip Corbet Conservation and Research Grant. Our scientific society produces two publications, the International Journal of Odonatology (IJO), dedicated to current research on the Odonata, and Agrion, the semi-annual bulletin of the Worldwide Dragonfly Association, publishing news, announcements and short field notes from the WDA community. The Issues of IJO are available to the membership via this web site. Agrion is freely available through this webpage.

As predators in both their aquatic larval stage and as airborne adults, dragonflies and damselflies connect aquatic and terrestrial habitats in ecosystems that vary from deserts to tropical rain forests. Because fresh water is so critical to their lifestyle, these insects are used as indicators of ecological health of their habitats and as proxies for general biodiversity. Increasingly, dragonflies offer opportunities to alert the public of how humans are changing the natural world and particularly our precious freshwater resources. Dragonflies are the “Guardians of the Watershed”. We invite all dragonfly enthusiasts, nature lovers, citizen scientists, students, academics and professionals, to use links here for more information about the order and to join us as members of our international family.

Frank Suhling

President of WDA