Conversion of natural habitat into agricultural landscape has been identified as one of the major drivers of habitat loss. Human-modified ecosystems, such as agricultural land, have gained significant attention in terms of the conservation of their native biodiversity. We studied the effectiveness of organic agroecosystems in conserving odonate diversity by comparing organic terrace rice cultivation…
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…
This study investigated the biological water quality and Odonata assemblages in three waterbodies in Ilara-Mokin, with the aim of determining the ecological integrity of the ecosystems. Sampling of Odonata specimens was carried out over April–August, 2017 between 9.00am and 4.00pm under favourable conditions. Some physico-chemical parameters of the water such as dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity,…
We isolated and characterized a total of 13 microsatellite loci from Cordulegaster sarracenia (Odonata: Cordulegastridae). Loci were screened in 24 individuals from Louisiana and Texas. Within C. sarracenia, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 0 to 5, and observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.000 to 0.556 and 0.000 to 0.613, respectively. Overall
Very little is known about the biology of larval odonates from the Neotropical region, and in particular there are no data on behavioral changes during ontogeny and growth ratios, though both are crucial to understanding the dynamics of Odonata communities. Here we study growth ratio, development patterns and behavior of Rhionaeschna marchali larvae. We characterized…
Regardless of the economic and social development that damming processes related to hydroelectric power plants bring to a region, they represent a wide range of disturbances to the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of rivers. We evaluated the effects of dams on Odonata communities from the southeastern region of Goiás, Brazil. Thirteen streams connected to…
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…
Damselflies adapted to forest habitats are expected to be negatively affected by the disturbance of riparian forests, due to the change in insolation when trees are cleared. In this paper, we compare survivorship and behaviour of two populations of Heteragrion cooki by means of mark-recapture methods and focal observations of adults. We found similar densities…
Colour-based traits are widespread in flying species due to the importance of visual perception in their communication. Ontogenetic colour changes and reversible physiological colours occur in some species and are used as communication signals to conspecifics. The genus Mnais (Zygoptera: Calopterygidae) shows both genetic colour polymorphism and age-related colour changes, making challenging even the identification…
The Odonata from the Refúgio Estadual da Vida Silvestre do Rio Pandeiros (RVSP), located in the Cerrado domain, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, were rapidly surveyed. Sampling efforts were undertaken along the Rio Pandeiros margins during four sampling periods between the rainy (spring–summer) and dry seasons (autumn–winter) from July 2014 to April 2015. We sampled 97…