Microhabitat selection and thermoregulation in amazonian dragonflies.

Insect eco-physiological traits are important for understanding their distribution and habitat selection, especially in the face of land use change. We estimated the average temperature of the thoracic surface of 20 Odonata (Insecta) species and classified them into thermoregulation categories according to their preferences for sunny or shaded habitats to assess their temperature variation. We tested the influence of air temperature and six morphological metrics related to thorax and abdomen size.

Amazon streams impacted by bauxite mining present distinct local contributions to the beta diversity of aquatic insects, fish, and macrophytes.

Integrating the physicochemical characteristics of aquatic environments with their biotas is essential for the conservation and monitoring of biodiversity, given the sensitivity of both the biotic and the abiotic components to environmental changes linked to water quality and human activities. In the present study, we evaluate how the contributions of different taxa to beta diversity, through local and species effects, can indicate the priority sites for conservation and ecological restoration in an Amazon region impacted by bauxite mining. We also investigate how environmental conditions at local and landscape scales influence the beta diversity of the aquatic biota.

Variations in the Odonata Assemblages: How Do the Dry Season and Water Bodies Influence Them?

Diverse abiotic and biotic factors drive the ecological variation of communities across spatial and temporal dimensions. Within the Amazonian landscape, various freshwater environments exhibit distinct physicochemical characteristics. Thus, our study delved into the fluctuations of Odonata assemblages amidst distinct water bodies within Amazonia, encompassing two distinct climatic seasons.

Amazonian Odonata Trait Bank.

Discussion regarding the gaps of knowledge on Odonata is common in the literature. Such gaps are even greater when dealing with basic biological data for biodiverse environments like the Amazon Rainforest. Therefore, studies that address, classify, and standardize functional traits allow the elaboration of a wide range of ecological and evolutionary hypotheses.

A new Epipleoneura Williamson, 1915 (Zygoptera, Coenagrionidae) from northern Brazil and notes on E. venezuelensis Rácenis, 1955.

Epipleoneura lencionii sp. nov. is erected based on specimens from Acre State (holotype: 10º7'38.

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.

Response of aquatic insects to an environmental gradient in Amazonian streams.

The increasing land use in the Amazon region has resulted in the widespread substitution of forest areas with pasture and bauxite mining. These land uses reduce the forest cover of streams and modify their characteristics, reducing the diversity of aquatic insect assemblages. In the present study, we aimed to identify the threshold of the assemblages of the larvae of insects of the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (collectively known as EPT), and adults of the order Odonata, along an environmental gradient of land use and land cover (LULC).

Aquatic insects and their environmental predictors: a scientometric study focused on environmental monitoring in lotic environmental.

Since early studies about aquatic ecology, it has been found that changes in environmental conditions alter aquatic insect communities. Based on this, the combined study of environmental conditions and aquatic insect communities has become an important tool to monitor and manage freshwater systems. However, there is no consensus about which environmental predictors and facets of diversity are more useful for environmental monitoring.

Effect of oil palm on the Plecoptera and Trichoptera (Insecta) assemblages in streams of eastern Amazon.

The production of oil palm is expected to increase in the Amazon region. However, expansion of oil palm plantation leads to significant changes in the physical structure of aquatic ecosystems, mainly through the reduction of riparian vegetation that is essential for aquatic biodiversity. Here, we evaluated the effects of oil palm on the physical habitat structure of Amazonian stream environments and assemblages of Plecoptera and Trichoptera (PT), ​both found in these streams.

Little effects of reduced-impact logging on insect communities in eastern Amazonia.

Selective logging has become a major source of threats to tropical forest, bringing challenges for both ecologists and managers to develop low-impact forestry. Reduced-impact logging (RIL) is a prominent activity accounting for such forestry practices to prevent strong forest disturbances. Our aims were to evaluate the effects of RIL on insect communities of forested streams from Eastern Amazon and to test the hypothesis of negative effects of RIL on species richness, abundance, and functional feeding groups of aquatic insect assemblages.