I am working on a management/conservation plan aiming several odonata species (Namely: Macromia splendens, Aeshna affinis, Aeshna isosceles, Sympetrum meridionale, Brachytron pratense, Oxygastra curtisii, Onychogomphus uncatus, Onycogomphus costae, Gomphus vulgatissimus, Coenagrion mercuriale). I wonder if somebody has/knows papers or reports detailing experiences and results, best practice cases, or similar information. Any other help or advice would also be appreciated.
You would probably have some luck in approaching it from a water quality perspective as these are used as macro invertebrate indicators of water quality. You should find multiple references with searches putting them together. I would also venture it should be an important component of you monitoring plan to look at how embedded the streams are within the study area as well as water quality parameters, including contaminants (pesticides).
The presence/absence of predatory fish is critical in understanding the distribution of dragon nymphs. In the absence of fish, dragonfly larvae can become the apex predators in a system, but in the presence of fish they are usually restricted to microhabitats that are partial refugia (e.g., shallow muddy water or dense aquatic vegetation). hope that helps.
A good place to start would be looking at papers by Michael J Samways (now University of Stellenbosch, formerly University of kwaZulu-Natal), who has worked in precisely this field (conservation/management of Odonata) in South Africa for many years. He's quite amenable to being contacted personally as well.
Hi,
Patricia: Water quality is a good line, but I am more interested on bank features, prey abundance and other things.
John: Thanks! Controlling for predatory fish can be critical, and there are some problematic introduced fish. Culling campaigns could be effective and aligned with other initiatives.
Hallam: Thanks. I will check those references and probably contact him.
Dan Soluk and his students at the University of South Dakota work with the federally endangered Hines emerald dragonfly. They have been looking at life history, captive rearing, and many habitat factors. Dan's email address is [email protected].
Hi Jabi,
I suppose the very best you can do at first is to label this question with the correct topics - you should use 'Odonata', 'Odonatology' and 'Dragonflies', as well as 'Biodivesity & Conservation', to get in touch with the right researchers. There is abundant information (far too much to cite all references) on all these European species, especially under consideration of the fact that C.mercuriale, M. splendens and O. curtisii are specially protected in Europe according to the FFH directive. A good paper to begin with will probably be http://ecoevo.uvigo.es/PDF/Int_J_Odonatol_vol_7_pp_385-398_(2004).pdf,
and Adolfo Cordero as one of the authors is e.g. a most competent guy to talk about M. splendens. As most species you name have a large Iberian part of their range, he'd also be a good contact for other species. Another beginning pdf to check will be this one: http://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/mediterranean_dragonflies_en_web.pdf. And, one more remark: I suppose that bank features and prey abundance are not the most important questions when it comes to management & conservation of Odonata...
Dear Jabi, Frank Suhling, one of the co-authors of the first pdf linked by Florian may also be a good person to contact, as he has been working in Namibian and South Africa with dragonflies...
https://www.tu-braunschweig.de/geooekologie/abteilungen/usa/personal/frank_suhling
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