The increasing use of dragonflies and damselflies as models in studies on biodiversity in the last decades has unraveled several features of natural processes and mechanisms for species conservation. Nevertheless, biodiversity is a polysemic concept that resolves multiple dimensions that, together, enroll what we observe as species and lineages diversity. One of these dimensions is Ethodiversity, which may represent the individual diversity of behavioral traits and higher organization levels.
Land use influences the biodiversity of stream systems by changing the chemical composition of the water and the physical structure of the habitat. The present study evaluated the influence of these processes on the diversity metrics of Odonata at regional and local scales, testing the hypothesis that the two odonate suborders Anisoptera and Zygoptera will respond differently to habitat and landscape variables.
During a period of nine years, from 2000 to 2008, two consecutive studies—one focusing on observations of adult Odonata, the other on collection of larvae—were carried out in the basin of the Guadiamar River in the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. In addition to monitoring Odonata, several environmental variables were assessed, including an index based on macroinvertebrate…
The department of Ñeembucú, in south-western Paraguay, is home to the virtually unexplored Ñeembucú Wetlands, the second largest wetland system in the country, representing a major gap in biodiversity knowledge. As organisms ubiquitous with wetlands, the Odonata, or dragonflies (Anisoptera) and damselflies (Zygoptera), have the potential to be effective indicators of wetland habitats in the…
We investigated the odonates of Wadi Cherf, a tributary of Wadi Seybouse, and explored the main environmental factors that may be important drivers of the abundance and diversity of Odonata assemblages. PCA analyses demonstrated a significant altitudinal gradient associated with water flow, temperature, vegetation cover, substrate and adjacent land use. Notably, pollution was a dominant…
A survey of the Gomphidae of Algeria and the Maghreb was carried out during the period 2013–2014. Sampling of eight main wadis across northern Algeria was undertaken and adults and exuviae were recorded. The survey yielded six species of Gomphidae. Among these, we report on the rediscovery of the Critically Endangered Lindenia tetraphylla in Algeria,…
This study showed that the main impact on Odonata species of removal of riparian vegetation for road building was on community composition, since species richness remained unaltered. This result, most evident in damselflies, was probably driven by the entry of generalist species that replaced specialist species after the impact. We collected adult odonates in forested…
Globally, freshwater ecosystems and the organisms that depend on them are at risk. Dragonflies and damselflies (collectively, “odonates”) have a history of being used as bioindicators of freshwater habitat quality due to their wide range in environmental sensitivities across species and because they are relatively accessible.
Environmental management is one of the most important activities in ecological conservation at present. Faced with various socioeconomic impacts (e.g., urbanization, agriculture, and logging), practical and effective ways to analyze and determine how biodiversity is affected by these anthropogenic activities are essential.
Recent studies have indicated that frequent anthropogenic disturbances in tropical developing countries are primary drivers of reduction in community diversity and local extinction of many arthropods, including dragonflies. We assessed the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on odonate assemblages across three different land use types, in a biodiverse nature reserve in Ghana. A total of 37…