Effect of vegetation removal for road building on richness and composition of Odonata communities in Amazonia, Brazil

Cláudio da Silva Monteiro Júniora , Sheyla Regina Marques Couceirob, Neusa Hamadaa, Leandro Juenc

  1. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia/Coordenação de Biodiversidade, Manaus, Brazil
  2. Universidade Nilton Lins, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Urbana. Av. Prof. Nilton Lins, Manaus, Brazil
  3. Universidade Federal do Pará, Laboratório de Ecologia e Zoologia de Invertebrados, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Belém, Brazil

International Journal of Odonatology, Volume 16, Issue 2, Pages 135-144, 2013
https://doi.org/10.1080/13887890.2013.764798
Published: 1 June 213 (Received: 14 August 2012, Accepted: 5 January 2013)

Abstract

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 and deforested streams in the surroundings of Manaus, Amazonas, northern Brazil. We collected 380 specimens belonging to 32 odonate species. Erythrodiplax fusca and Argia sp. 1 could be used in biomonitoring programs, since they were significantly associated with deforested streams. Using odonate community composition and key species appears to be more efficient in biomonitoring programs than simply using species richness.

Keywords: Amazonia, dragonfly, aquatic insects, anthropogenic impact, streams, bioindicators

Issue section: Article