Simple pond restoration measures increase dragonfly (Insecta: Odonata) diversity

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Ponds are home to a diverse community of specialized plants and animals and are hence of great conservation concern. Through land-use changes, ponds have been disappearing rapidly and remaining ponds are often threatened by contamination and eutrophication, with negative consequences for pond-dependent taxa like amphibians or dragonflies (Odonata: Anisoptera and Zygoptera). Increasingly, restoration measures such as removal of shading terrestrial vegetation or submerged organic matter are implemented to counteract current threats, but how these measures affect the target taxa is rarely assessed. We tested if and how simple pond restoration measures affectionate diversity. We propose that pond restoration influences the light regime, which promotes aquatic and riparian vegetation important for different dragonfly life stages, thus increasing their diversity. Additionally, we assume that this changes dragonfly species composition between restored and unrestored ponds. We surveyed exuviae in the riparian and aquatic vegetation along the shore of 29 (12 restored, 17 unrestored) man-made ponds in southwest Germany and assessed environmental variables known to affect dragonfly diversity. We identified the cover of tall sedges and submerged macrophytes as the driving biotic variables for dragonfly diversity and species composition, with restoration measures affecting submerged macrophyte cover directly but tall sedges indirectly via available sunlight. This study demonstrates that simple restoration measures not only have a positive effect on overall dragonfly diversity, but also increase habitat suitability for several species that would otherwise be absent. We therefore propose dragonflies as a suitable flagship group for pond conservation.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftBiodiversity and Conservation
Jahrgang27
Ausgabenummer9
Seiten (von - bis)2311-2328
Anzahl der Seiten18
ISSN0960-3115
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.07.2018
Extern publiziertJa

Bibliographische Notiz

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature.

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Single versus double materiality of corporate sustainability reporting
  2. SBSE-GC-ECD/FPD in the analysis of pesticide residues in Passiflora alata Dryander herbal teas
  3. Organisationen, Institutionen, Professionsentwicklungen
  4. Klassengrößen wirken
  5. Spanning Sustainability Management Boundaries
  6. Business owners' action planning and its relationship to business success in three African countries
  7. An analysis of local institutions governing common pasture use for biodiversity and society in Transylvania, Romania
  8. Auf den Schultern von Riesinnen
  9. Kinder- und Jugendliteratur
  10. Erratum zu: Gesundheitskompetenz und Gesundheit von Studierenden unter besonderer Betrachtung der Lehramtsstudierenden (Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung, (2022), 17, 2, (224-231), 10.1007/s11553-021-00849-6)
  11. Teachers and trainers in dual vocational training as change agents for sustainable development!? – Questions on the professionalisation of in-company trainers and vocational school teachers
  12. The role and benefits of population biological research for nature conservation monitoring
  13. Lobbying in Europe: Public Affairs and the Lobbying Industry in 28 EU Countries, edited by A.Bitonti and P.Harris (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, ISBN 9781137552556)
  14. The concept of personal initiative
  15. Einbahnstraße Elektrizität
  16. Plattformgenossenschaften: mehr Mitbestimmung durch die digitale Renaissance einer alten Idee?
  17. Kritik des Ästhetischen - Ästhetik der Kritik
  18. Internetbasierte psychologische Interventionen
  19. Biogeography meets conservation: the genetic structure of the endangered lycaenid butterfly Lycaena helle (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
  20. Forschendes Lernen im Masterstudiengang Systems Engineering
  21. Bildungsreise in digitale Welten
  22. Internationalisierung als Lernprozess - ein konstruktivistischer Ansatz
  23. § 289 c Inhalt der nichtfinanziellen Erklärung
  24. Anna Oppermann in der Hamburger Kunsthalle
  25. Lagrangian structures and transport in turbulent magnetized plasmas