Response of Odonata communities to dry season in a Deciduous Forest in the Northern Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Odonata sampling effort in the state of Minas Gerais has intensified throughout the 21st century. However, research on these insects in some regions and ecosystems such as the Deciduous Forest are incipient, and the effect of prolonged dry periods over these insects is still unknown. This study thus aimed to assess changes in adult Odonata species composition over one year in a Brazilian Deciduous Forest and the Odonata species richness in the Mata Seca State Park in the Manga and Itacarambi municipalities in the Northern region of the state of Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Twenty-four days of sampling were distributed in February, May, July and November, adopting an active search through entomological nets close to lentic environments (Lagoa Angical, Lagoa Comprida, Lagoa Encantada, Lagoa da Prata and two wetlands of Lajedo da Lua); lotic environments (São Francisco river) and in associated terrestrial ecosystems. In total, 55 species were collected. Rainy and dry periods altered Odonata communities’ composition but did not affect species richness and abundance due to the presence of permanent lagoons associated with the São Francisco river. This study shows the importance of the Mata Seca State Park for preserving Odonatofauna in the state of Minas Gerais and for protecting those permanent lagoons.

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

“…From the 21st century onward, growing efforts have been made to understand the diversity of Odonata in Minas Gerais State, mainly in the Atlantic Forest (Ferreira-Peruquetti & De Marco-Jr., 2002;Souza et al, 2013;Souza et al, 2017;Amorim, Souza, & Dos Anjos, 2018;Silva & Souza, 2020;Ávila Júnior, Machado, Lencioni, & Carneiro, 2020;Stefani-Santos et al, 2021; and Cerrado (Almeida, Pinto, Carvalho, & Takiya, 2013;Bedê, Machado, Piper, & Souza, 2015;Vilela, Ferreira, & Del-Claro, 2016;Barbosa, Borges, Vilela, Venâncio, & Santos, 2019;Borges, Barbosa, Carneiro, Vilela, & Santos, 2019;Vilela, Koroiva, Tosta, Novaes, & Guillermo-Ferreira, 2020;Dos Anjos, Milani, & Souza, 2020;Venâncio, Vilela, Barbosa, & Santos, 2021). Some studies focused on transition areas between Atlantic Forest and Cerrado (Bedê et al, 2015), Atlantic Forest and Caatinga (Gouvêa et al, 2022), and Cerrado and Caatinga (Souza et al, 2017).…”

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

“…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).…”