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The importance of national parks in maintaining the habitat integrity and diversity of Odonata species in Amazonian streams

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Abstract

Protected areas are hugely important for preserving freshwater systems, given their importance for the human well-being and aquatic diversity. Our main objective in the present study was to investigate the diversity of adult Odonata species in streams inside a national park, and in streams located outside this protected area, under different human interventions. We analyzed assemblages of Odonata from 28 streams (inside = 17 and outside = 11) in Itaituba municipality, in Pará state, Brazil. Our results indicated that only habitat integrity and Zygoptera species composition significantly differed between both categories. The lack of more significant results may indicate some degree of buffer influence of the area of the national park since the streams inside and outside its area are a very short distance. Therefore, this closeness may be enough to allow the dispersal of Anisoptera species, considered effective dispersers, and some tolerant species of Zygoptera. However, only the Zygoptera suborder presented species specialists in streams inside and outside the national park, and even though this may be explained through their physiological aspects, another explanation may be that the presence of the national park mitigates the negative influence of human activities.

Implications for insect conservation We highlight the importance of full-protected areas in preserving the diversity of Odonata species, through the maintenance of habitat integrity and physical structure. However, there is a need for more studies conducted inside protected areas to address their effectiveness for the preservation of aquatic systems.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (process: 428961/2018-5) through the project “Diminuindo as lacunas Lineanas e Wallaceanas da biota aquática na Amazônia”; by Fundação Amazônica de Amparo a Estudos e Pesquisa do Pará – FAPESPA, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) (processes: 068/2020 and 2019/25445-1), through the project “Padrões de distribuição da biodiversidade aquática no Estado do Pará” and part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001. We are grateful to ICMBio and the Monitora Program that allowed the collection of the data at the Amazônia National Park. JSB thanks CNPq for doctoral scholarship in Brazil (process: 141113/2020-0) and LJ, LC and JMBOJ are grateful to CNPq for productivity grants (grants 304710/2019-9, 304403/2021-0, and 307808/2022-0, respectively). We also thank the anonymous reviewers that read, made comments and improved our work.

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Conceptualization, J. S. B., L. J.; Data curation, J. S. B.; Analytical procedures, J. S. B., R. C. B., G. L. B., L. J.; Writing and review, J. S. B., L. J., E. C. S., V. R. S. F., R. C. B., G. M. C., J. S. M., (A) L., M. R., G. L. B., J. M. (B) O-J., K. D. S., T. S. M., L. C.; Supervision, J. S. B., L. J., T. S. M.; Funding acquisition, L. C., L. J. All the authors have read and agreed on the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Joás Silva Brito.

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Brito, J.S., Silva, E.C., Ferreira, V.R.S. et al. The importance of national parks in maintaining the habitat integrity and diversity of Odonata species in Amazonian streams. J Insect Conserv 28, 315–330 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-023-00543-2

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