Environmental thresholds of dragonflies and damselflies from a Cerrado-Caatinga ecotone

Aquatic ecosystems are affected by different land uses that modify gradients of environmental conditions. These impacts act directly on the community structure, especially the most sensitive ones, such as aquatic insects. Thus, dragonflies have been used as good models to assess these changes, since their suborders Anisoptera and Zygoptera have different ecophysiological and behavioral requirements. This study aimed to evaluate the following hypotheses: (1) dragonfly species composition differs along the environmental gradients of streams; therefore, we expect a higher proportion of species of the suborder Anisoptera in environments with a higher degree of disturbance, since these environmental conditions select heliothermic species with exophytic oviposition; (2) the reduction of habitat integrity and canopy cover will lead to a lower richness of the Zygoptera suborder, due to the restrictions of its thermoregulation and oviposition behavior in relation to Anisoptera, since the higher light input would favor heliothermic and exophytic species; (3) alterations in habitat integrity create ecological thresholds and points of change in the abundance and frequency of Odonata species, generating gradients in the environmental integrity conditions. Specimens were collected from 24 streams (first to third order), in a gradient of land uses. Canopy cover and stream width were predictors of taxonomic richness and abundance of the suborders Anisoptera and Zygoptera, with greater coverage and smaller width, positively affecting Zygoptera and negatively Anisoptera. The turning points were determined by a habitat integrity index, where below 0.38 there is an increase in generalist taxa and a decline in sensitive taxa. On the other hand, above 0.79, there was a sensitive taxa increase in detriment of generalists. Four individual taxa indicators were selected, two of which associated with a negative response (Perithemis tenera and Acanthagrion aepiolum) and two with positive responses (Epipleoneura metallica and Zenithoptera lanei) for habitat integrity. Our results are important to guide management strategies, recovery, and protection policies for areas of permanent protection, aiming to conserving biodiversity and natural resources essential to life quality maintenance.

Automated summary

This study examines the impact of different land uses on the composition of dragonfly species in aquatic ecosystems. The results show that habitat integrity and canopy cover affect the taxonomic richness and abundance of dragonflies. Furthermore, a habitat integrity index is used to determine thresholds and turning points in species abundance. These findings are crucial for guiding conservation and management strategies to protect biodiversity and natural resources.