The dragonfly delusion: why it is essential to sample exuviae to avoid biased surveys

Raebel, Eva M.; Merckx, Thomas; Riordan, Philip; Macdonald, David W.; Thompson, D. J.

doi:10.1007/s10841-010-9281-7

Cited by 122 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…(Hemiptera) at 68 ponds over 3 consecutive years and found variability in habitat quality affected patch occupancy. Moore (1991) studied the pattern of community assembly by observing breeding behaviour by adult Odonata (which may not be an accurate method of predicting the aquatic residents (Raebel et al 2010)) at 20 newly-created woodland ponds over 27 years, describing a transition between pioneer and climax odonate communities. Cottenie and De Meester (2003) investigated zooplankton communities in a very highly connected cluster of 34 ponds over 3 consecutive years, and found that environmental variables, particularly turbidity, varied between years and influenced diversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal dynamics of aquatic communities and implications for pond conservation

2012

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Conservation through the protection of particular habitats is predicated on the assumption that the conservation value of those habitats is stable. We test this assumption for ponds by investigating temporal variation in macroinvertebrate and macrophyte communities over a 10-year period in northwest England. We surveyed 51 ponds in northern England in 1995/6 and again in 2006, identifying all macrophytes (167 species) and all macroinvertebrates (221 species, excluding Diptera) to species. The alpha-diversity, beta-diversity and conservation value of these ponds were compared between surveys. We find that invertebrate species richness increased from an average of 29.5 species to 39.8 species between surveys. Invertebrate gamma-diversity also increased between the two surveys from 181 species to 201 species. However, this increase in diversity was accompanied by a decrease in beta-diversity. Plant alpha-, beta-and gamma-diversity remained approximately constant between the two periods. However, increased proportions of grass species and a complete loss of charophytes suggests that the communities are undergoing succession. Conservation value was not correlated between sampling periods in either plants or invertebrates. This was confirmed by comparing ponds that had been disturbed with those that had no history of disturbance to demonstrate that levels of correlation between surveys were approximately equal in each group of ponds. This study has three important conservation implications: (i) a pond with high diversity or high conservation value may not remain that way and so it is unwise to base pond conservation measures upon protecting currently-speciose habitats; (ii) maximising pond gammadiversity requires a combination of late and early succession ponds, especially for invertebrates; and (iii) invertebrate and plant communities in ponds may require different management strategies if succession occurs at varying rates in the two groups.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal dynamics of aquatic communities and implications for pond conservation

2012

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“…Una vez concluido el ciclo larval tiene lugar la emergencia, que incluye el desplazamiento de las larvas al medio aéreo. Posteriormente, a partir de procesos hormonales, se separa el dermatoesqueleto (exuvia), transformándose la larva en un individuo adulto alado (Esquivel, 2006;Raebel, Merckx, Riordan, Macdonald, & Thompson, 2010).…”

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Patrones de emergencia de Odonata (Insecta) en un hábitat lótico de Cuba oriental

Quintana¹,

Tur²

2017

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Emergence patterns of Odonata (Insecta) from a lotic habitat in Eastern Cuba. The emergence patterns of tropical odonates (dragonflies and damselflies) are scarcely known. We studied the emergence patterns of odonates in a freshwater lotic system in Giro, Northern Santiago de Cuba, between January and December 2008. We visited the locality between 09:00 and 14:00, on a weekly basis, and collected exuviae from a fixed section (8 x 1 m 2 ) offshore, along the riparian vegetation. We collected data on species composition and, for each species, abundance, relative biomass and emergence pattern. We collected 443 exuviae belonging to 22 species: seven Zygoptera and 15 Anisoptera. Half of the annual Odonata emergence took place in the dry season (December to March) with the highest value in February (25 %). For species for which we found seven or more exuviae per month, Enallagma coecum and Macrothemis celeno tended to be a synchronal emergence. We also found temporal segregation of the emergence pattern between M. celeno and Protoneura capillaris, Neoneura maria, Progomphus integer and Scapanea frontalis. These differences were probably related to the highest annual fluctuations of temperature, relative humidity and number of rainy days per month. We concluded that there is an asynchrony and heterogeneity in Odonata emergence times in the studied freshwater lotic system. Rev. Biol. Trop. 65 (2): 807-818. Epub 2017 June 01.

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“…Combined sampling of adults and exuviae proved worthwhile in the present Downloaded by [University of Otago] at 03:41 21 July 2015 study as Gomphidae are strong flyers and adults may easily evade detection (Brochard & van der Ploeg, 2013;Raebel, Merckx, Riordan, Macdonald, & Thompson, 2010). We clearly need more surveys and systematic monitoring to strengthen our knowledge of the status of Maghrebian Odonata and improve our understanding of the processes that regulate their abundance and distribution.…”

Section: Conservationmentioning

confidence: 94%