A niche‐based gap analysis for the conservation of odonate species in the Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

Despite the current rates of deforestation and the expected climatic changes, protecting species in their natural habitats is still the simplest, cheapest, and most effective way of safeguarding biodiversity. Here, the network of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon was evaluated to assess its effectiveness in safeguarding species of Odonata. Ecological niche models were built to assess the suitability of the habitat for 503 Amazonian odonate species. Then, the effectiveness for the protection of odonate species of three classes of protected areas (strictly protected area, sustainable use area, and indigenous territory) was evaluated. Approximately 30% of the species are protected within the network of protected areas. These findings highlight the importance of protected areas for safeguarding most odonate species in the Amazon. For under‐represented or gap species, additional resources are still needed for effective management and protection on some private properties, which need to set aside land for conservation. In this way, it is possible to preserve habitats for odonate species and guarantee their conservation in the Amazon.

Assessing the distribution of mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Insecta) in the Brazilian Amazon to guide more effective conservation

“…The analysis of environmental parameters was based on a set of 21 layers representing environmental conditions that may contribute to the understanding of the geographical distribution of the Ephemeroptera in the Brazilian Amazon, and are the variables used most widely to model the distribution of aquatic organisms such as fish and odonates (Frederico, de Marco & Zuanon, 2014; Brasil et al, 2021). A resolution of 10 km 2 was used for the environmental layers, which covered the entire Neotropical region.…”

Checklist of Damselflies and Dragonflies (Odonata) from Acre state, and the first record of Drepanoneura loutoni von Ellenrieder & Garrison, 2008 for Brazil

“…The Habitat Integrity Index (HII) (Nessimian et al 2008) was used to relate the integrity of sampled sites to the presence of species. This index has been shown to be an effective metric to explain the distribution of aquatic insect communities, mainly Odonata (Brasil et al 2021). The index consists of 12 items, which assess characteristics of the banks and the water body.…”

“…The preparation of the species list was made using information from primary data (expeditions and field data collection in 35 streams) and secondary data (from literature and databases). To prepare the list, this information was gathered together with information from the Odonata collection of the Laboratory of Ecology and Conservation (LABECO) of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), Belém (for more details on the database, access Brasil et al 2021).…”

Amazonian Odonata Trait Bank

“…A great part can be found in forest remnants and other heterogeneous environments, rich in microhabitats and freshwater resources (Paulson, 2006). As for the Amazon Rainforest, recent estimates indicate that there are 503 species in the Brazilian territory only (Brasil et al, 2021). Nevertheless, it is worth highlighting that this number is probably underestimated given the gaps in collections throughout South America (Miguel et al, 2022).…”

“…Such information gaps on odonates are frequently discussed in the literature (Bastos et al, 2019; Brasil et al, 2021; Carvalho et al, 2022; Miguel, Calvão, et al, 2017; Miguel, Oliveira‐Junior, et al, 2017), especially regarding the tropics where most of world species diversity is concentrated and less research is conducted (Hortal et al, 2015; Laurance, 2007). The scarcity of fundamental biological data—for example, on geographic distribution, behavior, and thermoregulation–threatens global conservation efforts and limits the testing of ecological and evolutionary hypotheses.…”