Odonata community in transition areas between Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes in south-central Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Faunal inventories are essential for biota management and conservation, especially in areas with potential for the creation of conservation units. Inventories of insect taxa such as dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), which perform several environmental services in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, are of great importance. In view of the above, this study aimed to update and expand the list of Odonata species in the Barroso region, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. This study was carried out in three areas of forest fragments in Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes in October 2020, December 2020, January 2021, and March 2021. The sampling effort was 8 hours per day during 20 days, totaling 140 sampling hours. A total of 43 Odonata species were recorded, which increased the richness of the study area from 57 to 76 species. The studied areas harbor rare and endangered species. However, since the last sampling in 2009, there has been a significant reduction in diversity in the Atlantic Forest fragment. In view of the changes that forest fragments are undergoing, we underscore the need to create a conservation unit, especially in Baú Forest.

Check-list of the Odonata from the Sempre-Vivas National Park in the Cerrado region, Minas Gerais, south-eastern Brazil

“…The observed richness of Odonata in the SVNP is higher than in other similar studies carried out in the Cerrado of Minas Gerais, in which the number of species recorded usually varies from 20 to 48 ( e.g ., Souza et al . 2017; Dos Anjos et al 2020; Gouvêa et al 2023). Only a study carried out in Uberlândia ( Vênancio et al .…”

“…There are only two published recording sites of this species: The type locality in an environmental protection area in the municipality of Ouro Preto ( Ávila Junior et al . 2017), and the municipality of Barroso ( Gouvêa et al . 2023).…”

Odonata (Insecta) in high-altitude fields and associated ecosystems in the Poços de Caldas Plateau, Brazil

“…This species was collected only in JB and is likely that this species is associated with forest fragments close to remaining altitude fields, such as the "capões de mata" or even riparian forest. Currently, this species is known only in two localities, in the municipality of Ouro Preto, within the Atlantic Forest biome (Ávila Junior et al 2017) and from this biome in transition to the Cerrado in the municipality of Barroso (Gouvêa et al 2023), both regions of the state of Minas Gerais. In addition, it is categorized as VU (vulnerable) on the Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN 2022).…”

“…Brazil has the greatest dragonfly richness in the world, with more than 870 species recorded (IUCN 2022), however, many ecosystems are still under-sampled. Despite that Minas Gerais state is considered well sampled, which has inventory studies in several physiognomies such as Cerrado (Vilela et al 2020), Campo Rupestre (Bedê et al 2015Dos Anjos et al 2020), and different Atlantic Forest phytophysiognomies such as Deciduous Forest (Souza et al 2018;Gouvêa et al 2022), Mixed Forest (Stefani-Santos et al 2021 and Semideciduous Forest (Souza et al 2017(Souza et al , 2018Silva and Souza 2020;Stefani-Santos et al 2021;Gouvêa et al 2023), there are regions with few specific studies, such as the Poços de Caldas Plateau, in Minas Gerais state, which has only a list of species, dated to the 1960's (Santos 1966). This Plateau belongs to the Serra da Mantiqueira complex and is home to the remaining high-altitude fields with high potential for biological endemism that are still poorly known (Jacobi et al 2007;Matavelli and Monteiro 2012;Rezende et al 2013;Freitas et al 2015;Souza et al 2017).…”

Odonata (Insecta) richness in Atlantic Forests from Minas Gerais state, Brazil

“…Despite their ecological significance, the study of Odonata still requires significant advancements to comprehensively understand certain areas of their knowledge (May 2019), such as: (i) their phylogenetic relationships, which despite receiving substantial contributions from recent phylogenies (ByBee et al 2021), still require more support in terms of relationships and additional material collection for analysis; (ii) their taxonomy, especially for larvae and females, with various groups needing revisions (Garrison et al 2010;Vilela et al 2019); and (iii) their distribution, which remains quite limited for several groups, hindering conservation efforts such as Red List assessments by the Brazilian Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (ICMBio) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and also impeding taxonomic progress that is closely linked to collecting expeditions. Therefore, conducting inventory work contributes to understanding species distribution across different biomes, providing data for ecosystem monitoring (Brasil et al 2020), and aiding in the establishment of Conservation Units (GouVêa et al 2023) or justifying those already established, which serve as a primary tool for conserving biodiversity in Brazil (salVio 2017).…”