Negative impact of lake liming programmes on the species richness of dragonflies (Odonata): a study from southern Sweden

Liming programmes aiming to restore fish populations are being implemented in many acidified aquatic systems in northern Europe. We studied Odonata communities in 47 forest lakes in SW Sweden, 13 that are currently being limed, and 8 that have previously been limed. Thirty-one species were recorded, with the highest mean number in untreated lakes, followed by previously treated lakes and currently treated lakes. Species communities differed between untreated and limed lakes, but only few rare species found in the untreated lakes were absent in the treated lakes. Likewise, species known to thrive in acid environments were either rare or showed no preferences. Comparing the number of records of odonate species within a large regional area to the proportion of lakes inhabited in our study, we found that seven of the most commonly observed species occurred less frequently in limed lakes than in the untreated ones, including two of the three most common taxa. Reduced species numbers in limed lakes might be due to conditions on other trophic levels, including fish predation. We argue that Odonata should be considered when developing new biological indices of water quality, although the causes of the observed occurrence patterns need to be studied further.