Towards Global Volunteer Monitoring of Odonate Abundance

Abstract

Insects are reportedly experiencing widespread declines, but we generally have sparse data on their abundance. Correcting this shortfall will take more effort than professional entomologists alone can manage. Volunteer nature enthusiasts can greatly help to monitor the abundance of dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata), iconic freshwater sentinels and one of the few nonpollinator insect groups appreciated by the public and amenable to citizen science. Although counting individual odonates is common in some locations, current data will not enable a global perspective on odonate abundance patterns and trends. Borrowing insight from butterfly monitoring efforts, we outline basic plans for a global volunteer network to count odonates, including organizational structure, advertising and recruiting, and data collection, submission, and synthesis. We hope our proposal serves as a catalyst for richer coordinated efforts to understand population trends of odonates and other insects in the Anthropocene.

Urban Areas Create Refugia for Odonates in a Semi-Arid Region

“…There are also drawbacks in using presence of adults (the vagile life stage) to represent populations [ 38 , 47 ]. Surveys that focus on odonate adults are far more common than those that include nymphs or exuviae [ 48 , 49 ]. With adults, however, it is possible that some species at a playa may have dispersed there but would be unable to reproduce there because of too-short hydroperiods.…”

From Phenology and Habitat Preferences to Climate Change: Importance of Citizen Science in Studying Insect Ecology in the Continental Scale with American Red Flat Bark Beetle, Cucujus clavipes, as a Model Species

“…Moreover, such observations allow to monitor migratory birds, e.g., [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]; rare and endangered species, e.g., [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ]; expansion of pests, e.g., [ 20 , 39 , 40 ]; or alien and/or invasive species, e.g., [ 18 , 22 , 39 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ] as well as colonization of new human-made habitats, e.g., [ 51 ]. In addition, numerous studies show that data collected by amateur scientists allow to describe new interactions between species, e.g., [ 17 , 52 ], to investigate animal phenology, e.g., [ 53 ], and behavior, e.g., [ 54 ], to find changes in species abundance and demography, e.g., [ 55 , 56 , 57 ], and other threats for local fauna and flora being important for nature conservation, e.g., [ 8 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ].…”

Diversity, Status and Phenology of the Dragonflies and Damselflies of Cyprus (Insecta: Odonata)

“…Data collected through citizen science projects are increasingly important for assessing biodiversity at global and regional scales [1]. For dragonflies and damselflies in Europe, such detailed information is only available for northern and central localities, but not in any depth for any country or the area in general in the Eastern Mediterranean [2,3]. Kalkman and van Pelt [4] published data on the distribution and flight season of species in Turkey but acknowledged that their records were not evenly distributed over the year.…”