A meta‐analysis reveals that dragonflies and damselflies can provide effective biological control of mosquitoes

Priyadarshana, Tharaka Sudesh; Slade, Eleanor M.

doi:10.1111/1365-2656.13965

Cited by 6 publications

References 83 publications

(106 reference statements)

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Detecting the effect of intensive agriculture on Odonata diversity using citizen science data

Baeta,

Léauté,

Sansault

et al. 2024

Ecological Applications

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Agricultural areas represent one of the major ecosystems of the world. Intensification of agricultural practices produced openfields characterized by low biological diversity. Nevertheless, the distance up to which intensive agricultural fields alter surrounding natural systems is rarely quantified. We determined the spatial scale at which agricultural landscapes alter the diversity of Odonates, a key taxon in wetland ponds, and we tested to what extent citizen science data can be used reliably for this purpose. We compiled 7731 observations made in a portion of the region Centre‐Val‐de‐Loire (France) over 10 years by naturalists on 729 water bodies to analyze the effect of agricultural landscapes (mainly wheat, rapeseed, sunflower) on the species richness of both damselflies and dragonflies in lentic systems. Sixty species were reported over the 10‐year period. For dragonflies, intensive agricultural landscapes best explained their richness at the scales of 800 and 1600 m for overall and autochthonous species, respectively, when using the full dataset. The spatial scale was smaller for damselflies, at 200 m for both overall and autochthonous species. These distances were not severely impacted when constraining the data to consider several biases. Multimodel averaging showed that the proportion of intensive agriculture decreased species richness, despite the potential biases inherent to an imperfect database acquired by citizens. This imperfect citizen dataset allows to infer the lowest effect size of agriculture on species richness. Quantitatively, this effect was more important for autochthonous species. Interestingly, both relatively rare taxa and common or generalist species can be under threat in intensive agricultural landscapes, calling for more ecotoxicological studies. The influence of agricultural practices from a distance implies that conservation and management plans of wetland ponds should consider the landscape ecological characteristics and not only the pond features. Conservation efforts focusing too locally on a site may be undermined because intensive agriculture from a distance limits the potential for the site to recover highly diverse communities. These distant effects should be integrated by policy‐makers when deciding which wetland pond should benefit from a conservation plan or which conservation action may be planned, implementing, for instance, buffer zones and/or ecological corridors composed of natural vegetation.

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Detecting the effect of intensive agriculture on Odonata diversity using citizen science data

Baeta,

Léauté,

Sansault

et al. 2024

Ecological Applications

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Competition is the main factor, compared to non‐lethal threat of predation, affecting life‐history traits of Aedes aegypti (Diptera, Culicidae) mosquitoes

Cozzer,

de Brito,

Pazini

et al. 2024

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUNDMosquito larvae coexist with different species of predators in small freshwater bodies. These environments can vary widely in terms of the amount of food and larval densities. Our objective was to understand the impacts of the non‐lethal threat of predation, combined with competition effects on Aedes aegypti development and adult life cycle. We tested the effects of two types of non‐lethal threat of predation, divided into nine combinations of larvae densities and resource availability on Ae. aegypti larvae. We measured their isolated and combined impacts on larval mortality rate, time to reach pupation, adult size, and lifespan.RESULTSReal non‐lethal threat of predation resulted in a higher larval mortality (71%), compromised the sizes of the individuals (−7%) and prolonged the lifespan (19%) compared to control. Simulated treatment, the anti‐predation behaviors led to an increase in larval mortality (21%) compared to the control treatment. Accelerating the larva's development time (−14%) to escape from a dangerous environment severely compromised the size of the individuals (−23%) and increased adult life (10%).CONCLUSIONThe scarcity of food resources, high levels of competition, and non‐lethal threat of predation as well, are effective stressors for Ae. aegypti. We observed that resources (food and space) were more important than predation risk for the fitness of the survivors. However, these stressors, individually or combined, can result in high larvae mortality, altered larval development and pupation, affecting the emergence of the adults, with small sizes and altered lifespan, ultimately reducing the fitness of the individuals. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

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A Meta-Analysis of Mercury Biomagnification in Freshwater Predatory Invertebrates: Community Diversity and Dietary Exposure Drive Variability

Sinclair,

Garcia,

Eagles-Smith

2024

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Accurate estimates of methylmercury (MeHg) exposure are valuable to actionably assess risk and protect wildlife and human health. MeHg trophic transfer is a critical driver of risk: MeHg is generally biomagnified by a factor of 8.3 ± 7.5 from one trophic level to the next, averaged across freshwater communities (mean ± standard deviation). This variability can produce disparate risks even where basal MeHg concentrations are similar. Taxonomy may be one driver of this variability: physiologically diverse groups, like vertebrates and invertebrates, may assimilate MeHg differently. To determine whether taxonomy affects trophic transfer efficiency, we conducted a meta-analysis characterizing predatory invertebrate MeHg biomagnification. Our analyses estimated that freshwater predatory invertebrates biomagnify MeHg by factors of 2.1 ± 0.2 to 4.3 ± 0.3, with a 98.9 ± 0.4% posterior probability that factors are below 5 (mean ± standard error). When vertebrates or primary producers were included, a site's trophic magnification factor was 18.6 ± 6.2 to 54.1 ± 7.7% higher than estimates for invertebrates alone. Biomagnification was inversely correlated to prey MeHg concentration and varied among systematic and functional groups. These data suggest that predatory invertebrates biomagnify MeHg less efficiently than vertebrates and that a community's diversity and structure determine its biomagnification efficiency. Incorporating organismal variation in trophic transfer estimates may improve the assessment, communication, and management of MeHg risk.

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A meta‐analysis reveals that dragonflies and damselflies can provide effective biological control of mosquitoes

Cited by 6 publications

References 83 publications

Detecting the effect of intensive agriculture on Odonata diversity using citizen science data

Detecting the effect of intensive agriculture on Odonata diversity using citizen science data

Competition is the main factor, compared to non‐lethal threat of predation, affecting life‐history traits of Aedes aegypti (Diptera, Culicidae) mosquitoes

A Meta-Analysis of Mercury Biomagnification in Freshwater Predatory Invertebrates: Community Diversity and Dietary Exposure Drive Variability

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