ABSTRACT. Diversity of Odonata (Insecta) in lotic systems from Serra da Bodoquena, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. A systematic survey was carried out in four lotic systems from Serra da Bodoquena, the largest natural forests of the State, from August 2007 to November 2008. 548 specimens belonging to 33 species, distributed in 5 families were sampled. Libellulidae was dominant, with 13 species, followed by Gomphidae, Coenagrionidae, Protoneuridae and Calopterygidae.

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The regional knowledge of species diversity and distribution is important to support conservation strategies for species and their habitats. The main goal of this work is to present a checklist of Odonata species in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as their known locations in the municipalities. The preparation of the list was based in data gathered from collections of Museu de Ciências da Universidade do Vale do Taquari (UNIVATES), Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução da Universidade do Vale do Taquari (UNIVATES), Museu de Ciências Naturais da Fundação Zoootânica, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) plus data extracted from 65 publications and the sites SpeciesLink, All Odonata and Puget Sound University. A total of 182 Odonata species were recorded, spanning nine families and 57 genera. The most representative family was Libellulidae (80 species) followed by Coenagrionidae (41 species) and seven species are new records for Rio Grande do Sul. The list of species presented here is a significant advance compared to previous counts for Rio Grande do Sul, however, our list is by no means a final one. Some regions of the state remain poorly explored, such as the border to Uruguay also in the northernmost part of the state. Several families remain poorly sampled, especially those that inhabit small forested streams and probably there are many specimens which are not cataloged and identified yet in scientific collections, both in the state and in the country.

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Litterfall plays an important role in nutrient cycling and maintenance of soil fertility in terrestrial ecosystems. We gauged the effects of anthropogenic impacts on the production, decomposition and seasonality of litterfall in primary and secondary forests within a tropical landscape of the Brazilian Amazon. We hypothesized that leaf litter quantity and quality would differ in line with forest disturbance and that these changes would translate into dissimilar decomposition rates. If proved, these processes could be used as surrogates for indentifying the ecological status of forest habitats. The obtained results have shown that, in the study area litterfall is reduced and litter decomposition is braked in disturbed habitats when compared with primary and recovered secondary forests. Also, within similar climatic conditions, the litter production and decomposition rates begin to stabilize in mature secondary forests. Our results represent a useful contribution to understand the dynamics of the litterfall and litter decomposition processes in the neotropics. Both processes were correlated and sensitive to disturbance gradients and should used as forest recovery indicators in ecological monitoring and ecological restoration studies.

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Ground Beetles (Carabidae) have been suggested to be used as indicators of ecological status under the effects of anthropogenic land use and land cover changes in highly biodiverse regions such as the Neotropics. In this study Ground Beetles' assemblages from a region in the Brazilian Amazon were investigated for evaluating their applicability as disturbance indicators. Differences in assemblages between ecosystems, discriminated by complimentary methodologies, demonstrate a sensitive reaction from the most pristine forests to increasingly disturbed systems. Besides capturing the influence of different prevailing conditions between ecosystems, Ground Beetles are easy to communicate and to link with the other components of the system, being effortless and routinely measurable using standard methodologies. This study represents a step forward in using Ground Beetles for the purposes of planning, management and public reporting on the ecological status of Neotropical ecosystems. Additionally, the methods depicted could support projections for trends of relevant ecosystem attributes under realistic social-ecological change scenarios, which can be used to guide effective conservation planning.