Due to the destruction of its primary habitats, the West Palaearctic libellulid Orthetrum coerulescens has suffered much decline in central Europe. However, at the regional scale it has survived in a variety of secondary habitat, such as draining ditches. In order to find adequate measures for its conservation and promotion, habitat use and habitat recognition…
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…
The larva of the south-east Asian megapodagrionid, Podolestes orientalis, is described and figured. Specimens were collected from shallow forest pools lined with large dead leaves in secondary lowland forest. Final and earlier stadium larvae were found concentrated around the edges of pools in very shallow water. Larvae sometimes perched in exposed situations, just below the…
In Norway and throughout the rest of Europe, a continuous decline in the number of small lakes and ponds has taken place. As a consequence, many pond-dwelling organisms have become rare or extinct. Constructed wetlands (CWs) have since the 1990s been used as a remedial action against agricultural runoff. This study has investigated the potential…
Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) are efficacious for management and conservation efforts in freshwaters. In recent times, increased effort has gone into enhancing awareness, data and information on dragonflies among scientists and policymakers.
Our study evaluated the effects of environmental variables on the assemblages of the suborder Zygoptera, and tested the hypothesis that environmental variables are more important determinants of the structure of these assemblages than limnological variables in streams. We sampled 17 streams in the Carajás National Forest and tested our hypothesis using a linear regression analysis, with the zygopteran species composition, richness, and abundance as the response variables.
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…
Mitigation measures carried out at the regulated metarhithron Gurtenbach in Upper Austria were evaluated by a survey of the dragonfly fauna. The assessment method developed in this study was based on the longitudinal distribution of dragonflies along riverine biocoenotic regions (the “Rhithron-Potamon-Concept” explains changes in species composition along a river’s length). Numerically expressed habitat preferences…
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…
Assessment of conservation status is a necessary step before management plans can be formulated. Historically such assessments have a strong bias toward vertebrates, particularly endothermic terrestrial vertebrates (i.e. birds and mammals). Invertebrates, by contrast, tend to be ignored, and many insect groups, despite being species rich and reasonably well studied, such as the Odonata (damselflies…