Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Odonata diversity and species assemblages in the Northwest Central Plateau of Iran

  • ORIGINAL PAPER
  • Published:
Journal of Insect Conservation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Central Iran has been faced with deterioration of water quality and quantity, but yet the biodiversity of freshwater-associated insects in this area remains uncertain and without this information the development of conservation strategies is not possible. Here we explore Odonata diversity patterns and species assemblages in three terrestrial ecoregions of Central Iran. We used the first three Hill numbers and phylogenetic generalizations of these indices to compare the species diversity between the ecoregions. To compare Odonata species composition a PERMANOVA analysis was performed. Alpha-diversity of each water body was estimated by Hill numbers, taxonomic diversity, taxonomic distinctness and average taxonomic distinctness. The effects of habitat and environmental factors on Odonata diversity indices were modelled using a linear mixed model. About 42% of all Odonata that have been reported in Iran were found during this study. Species richness in the Desert and Steppe ecoregions were almost equal, the same pattern was observed for phylogenetic diversity indices. The Steppe ecoregion also had significantly different Odonata assemblage. Results of the linear mixed model showed that environmental factors have different effects on different diversity indices. Additionally different diversity indices resulted in different outcomes when comparing ecoregions, demonstrating that single measure cannot precisely assess the properties of an assemblage’s diversity. The high diversity of Odonata observed in such an arid environment shows the importance of man-made water bodies, as well as the necessity of preparing a conservation plan for these ecosystems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baghvand A, Nasrabadi T, Bidhendi GN, Vosoogh A, Karbassi A, Mehrdadi N (2010) Groundwater quality degradation of an aquifer in Iran central desert. Desalination 260:264–275

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barton K, Barton MK (2018) Package ‘MuMIn’

  • Bates D et al. (2015) Package ‘lme4’. Convergence 12

  • Beschovski V, Marinov M (2007) Fauna, ecology, and zoogeography of dragonflies (Insecta: Odonata) of Bulgaria. Biogeography and ecology of Bulgaria. Springer, Berlin, pp 199–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Bogan MT et al (2014) Biogeography and conservation of aquatic fauna in spring-fed tropical canyons of the southern Sonoran Desert, Mexico. Biodivers Conserv 23:2705–2748

    Google Scholar 

  • Borisov S (2006) Adaptations of dragonflies (Odonata) under desert conditions. Entomol Rev 86:534–543

    Google Scholar 

  • Brasil LS, Oliveira-Júnior JM, Calvão LB, Carvalho FG, Monteiro-Júnior CS, Dias-Silva K, Juen L (2018) Spatial, biogeographic and environmental predictors of diversity in Amazonian Zygoptera. Insect Conserv Divers 11:174–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Bried JT, Ervin GN (2006) Abundance patterns of dragonflies along a wetland buffer. Wetlands 26:878

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler RG, Demaynadier PG (2008) The significance of littoral and shoreline habitat integrity to the conservation of lacustrine damselflies (Odonata). J Insect Conserv 12:23–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Campos F, Velasco T, Sanz G, Casanueva P, Albuquerque M, Antunes I (2014) Ischnura Graellsii (Insecta: Odonata) A water pollution biovulnerability indicator—probability mapping using spatial uncertainty. River Res Appl 32(3):483–489

    Google Scholar 

  • Carchini G, Di Domenico M (1992) The larval stages of Ischnura fountainei MORTON (Zygoptera: Coenagrionidae). Odonatologica 21:473–479

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao A, Chiu C-H, Jost L (2010) Phylogenetic diversity measures based on Hill numbers. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 365:3599–3609

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao A, Chiu C-H, Hsieh T (2012) Proposing a resolution to debates on diversity partitioning. Ecology 93:2037–2051

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chao A, Gotelli NJ, Hsieh T, Sander EL, Ma K, Colwell RK, Ellison AM (2014) Rarefaction and extrapolation with Hill numbers: a framework for sampling and estimation in species diversity studies. Ecol Monogr 84:45–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao A, Ma K, Hsieh T, Chiu C (2016) SpadeR (species-richness prediction and diversity estimation in R): an R package in CRAN. Program and User’s Guide also published at https://chao.stat.nthu.edu.tw/wordpress/software_download/

  • Chovanec A, Raab R (1997) Dragonflies(Insecta, Odonata) and the ecological status of newly created wetlands—examples for long-term bioindication programmes. Limnologica 27:381–392

    Google Scholar 

  • Chovanec A, Waringer J (2001) Ecological integrity of river–floodplain systems—assessment by dragonfly surveys (Insecta: Odonata). River Res Appl 17:493–507

    Google Scholar 

  • Clausnitzer V et al (2009) Odonata enter the biodiversity crisis debate: the first global assessment of an insect group. Biol Conserv 142:1864–1869

    Google Scholar 

  • Colwell RK, Chao A, Gotelli NJ, Lin S-Y, Mao CX, Chazdon RL, Longino JT (2012) Models and estimators linking individual-based and sample-based rarefaction, extrapolation and comparison of assemblages. J Plant Ecol 5:3–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbet P (1993) Are Odonata useful as bioindicators. Libellula 12:91–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbet P, Brooks S (2011) Dragonflies (Collins New Naturalist Library, Book 106), vol 106. HarperCollins, London, UK

    Google Scholar 

  • De Block M, Stoks R (2003) Adaptive sex-specific life history plasticity to temperature and photoperiod in a damselfly. J Evol Biol 16:986–995

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Oliveira-Junior JMB et al (2017) Effects of human disturbance and riparian conditions on Odonata (Insecta) assemblages in eastern Amazon basin streams. Limnologica 66:31–39

    Google Scholar 

  • De Paiva SD, De Marco P, Resende DC (2010) Adult Odonate abundance and community assemblage measures as indicators of stream ecological integrity: a case study. Ecol Indic 10:744–752

    Google Scholar 

  • Dijkstra KDB, Kalkman VJ (2012) Phylogeny, classification and taxonomy of European dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata): a review. Org Divers Evol 12:209–227

    Google Scholar 

  • Dijkstra K, Lewington R (2006) Field guide to the dragonflies of Britain and Europe. British Wildlife Publishing, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Dijkstra KDB, Kalkman VJ, Dow RA, Stokvis FR, Van Tol J (2014) Redefining the damselfly families: a comprehensive molecular phylogeny of Zygoptera (Odonata). Syst Entomol 39:68–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Dray S, Dufour A-B (2007) The ade4 package: implementing the duality diagram for ecologists. J Stat Softw 22:1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Dumont HJ (1991) Odonata of the Levant, vol 5. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Jerusalem

    Google Scholar 

  • Eslami Z, Ebrahimi M, Sadeghi S (2018) Late spring records of Odonata from the west margin of the Namak Lake, Northwest of Central Plateau of Iran. IDF 125:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick BM, Allison AL (2014) Similarity and differentiation between bacteria associated with skin of salamanders (Plethodon jordani) and free-living assemblages. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 88:482–494

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Frey W, Probst W (1986) A synopsis of the vegetation of Iran. In: Kürschner H (ed) Contributions to the vegetation of southwest Asia. Ludwig Reicher, Wiesbaden, pp 9–44  

    Google Scholar 

  • Gauci C, Sciberras A (2010) First Records of Orthetrum chrysostigma (Odonata, Libellulidae) Burmeister, 1839, from the Maltese Islands. Cent Mediterr Nat 5:78–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Golfieri B, Hardersen S, Maiolini B, Surian N (2016) Odonates as indicators of the ecological integrity of the river corridor: development and application of the Odonate River Index (ORI) in northern Italy. Ecol Indic 61:234–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ, Chao A (2013) Measuring and estimating species richness, species diversity, and biotic similarity from sampling data. In: Levin SA (ed) Encyclopedia of Biodiversity, vol 5, 2nd edn. Academic Press, Waltham, MA, pp 195–211

    Google Scholar 

  • Gotelli NJ, Colwell RK (2001) Quantifying biodiversity: procedures and pitfalls in the measurement and comparison of species richness. Ecol Lett 4:379–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsieh T, Chao A (2017) Rarefaction and extrapolation: making fair comparison of abundance-sensitive phylogenetic diversity among multiple assemblages. Syst Biol 66:100–111

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jost L (2006) Entropy and diversity. Oikos 113:363–375

    Google Scholar 

  • Juen L, Cabette HSR, De Marco P (2007) Odonate assemblage structure in relation to basin and aquatic habitat structure in Pantanal wetlands. Hydrobiologia 579:125–134

    Google Scholar 

  • Juen L, Oliveira-Junior JMBd, Shimano Y, Mendes TP, Cabette HSR (2014) Composition and richness of Odonata (Insecta) in streams with different levels of conservation in a Cerrado-Amazonian Forest ecotone. Acta Amaz 44:223–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalkman VJ, Clausnitzer V, Dijkstra K-DB, Orr AG, Paulson DR, van Tol J (2008) Global diversity of dragonflies (Odonata) in freshwater. Hydrobiologia 595:351–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Kietzka GJ, Pryke JS, Samways MJ (2017) Aerial adult dragonflies are highly sensitive to in-water conditions across an ancient landscape. Divers Distrib 23:14–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinvig R, Samways M (2000) Conserving dragonflies (Odonata) along streams running through commercial forestry. Odonatologica 29:195–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch K, Wagner C, Sahlén G (2014) Farmland versus forest: comparing changes in Odonata species composition in western and eastern Sweden. Insect Conserv Divers 7:22–31

    Google Scholar 

  • MacDonald ZG, Nielsen SE, Acorn JH (2017) Negative relationships between species richness and evenness render common diversity indices inadequate for assessing long-term trends in butterfly diversity. Biodivers Conserv 26:617–629

    Google Scholar 

  • Mair P, De Leeuw J (2017) Gifi: multivariate analysis with optimal scaling. R package version 0.3–2.

  • Melo AS, Pereira RA, Santos AJ, Shepherd GJ, Machado G, Medeiros HF, Sawaya RJ (2003) Comparing species richness among assemblages using sample units: why not use extrapolation methods to standardize different sample sizes? Oikos 101:398–410

    Google Scholar 

  • Miguel TB, Oliveira-Junior JMB, Ligeiro R, Juen L (2017) Odonata (Insecta) as a tool for the biomonitoring of environmental quality. Ecol Indic 81:555–566

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mirzaei A, Saghafian B, Mirchi A, Madani K (2019) The groundwater-energy-food Nexus in Iran’s agricultural sector: implications for water security. Water 11:1835

    Google Scholar 

  • Oertli B (2008) The use of dragonflies in the assessment and monitoring of aquatic habitats. In: Dragonflies and damselflies: model organisms for ecological and evolutionary research, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 79–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Oksanen J et al. (2013) Package ‘vegan’. Community ecology package, version 2

  • Olson DM et al (2001) Terrestrial ecoregions of the world: a new map of life on earth. A new global map of terrestrial ecoregions provides an innovative tool for conserving biodiversity. Bioscience 51:933–938

    Google Scholar 

  • Paknia O, Pfeiffer M (2011) Steppe versus desert: multi-scale spatial patterns in diversity of ant communities in Iran. Insect Conserv Divers 4:297–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Petersen RC (1992) The RCE: a riparian, channel, and environmental inventory for small streams in the agricultural landscape. Freshw Biol 27:295–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinkert S (2016) Evolutionary and Historical Components of the European Dragonfly Diversity. Verlag nicht ermittelbar, Marburg

    Google Scholar 

  • Raebel EM, Merckx T, Riordan P, Macdonald DW, Thompson DJ (2010) The dragonfly delusion: why it is essential to sample exuviae to avoid biased surveys. J Insect Conserv 14:523–533

    Google Scholar 

  • Raebel EM, Merckx T, Feber RE, Riordan P, Macdonald DW, Thompson DJ (2012) Identifying high-quality pond habitats for Odonata in lowland England: implications for agri-environment schemes. Insect Conserv Divers 5:422–432

    Google Scholar 

  • Reece BA, Mcintyre NE (2009) Community assemblage patterns of odonates inhabiting a wetland complex influenced by anthropogenic disturbance. Insect Conserv Divers 2:73–80

    Google Scholar 

  • Remsburg AJ, Turner MG (2009) Aquatic and terrestrial drivers of dragonfly (Odonata) assemblages within and among north-temperate lakes. J N Am Benthol Soc 28:44–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Renner S, Sahlén G, Périco E (2016) Testing dragonflies as species richness indicators in a fragmented subtropical Atlantic forest environment. Neotrop Entomol 45:231–239

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Renner S, Périco E, Dalzochio MS, Sahlén G (2018a) Ecoregions within the Brazilian Pampa biome reflected in Odonata species assemblies. Aust Ecol 44(3):461–472

    Google Scholar 

  • Renner S, Périco E, Dalzochio MS, Sahlén G (2018b) Water body type and land cover shape the dragonfly communities (Odonata) in the Pampa biome, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. J Insect Conserv 22:113-125

    Google Scholar 

  • Rüppell G (1989) Kinematic analysis of symmetrical flight manoeuvres of Odonata. J Exp Biol 144:13–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahlén G (1999) The impact of forestry on dragonfly diversity in Central Sweden. Intern J Odonatol 2:177–186

    Google Scholar 

  • Sahlén G, Ekestubbe K (2001) Identification of dragonflies (Odonata) as indicators of general species richness in boreal forest lakes. Biodivers Conserv 10:673–690

    Google Scholar 

  • Samways MJ, Steytler NS (1996) Dragonfly (Odonata) distribution patterns in urban and forest landscapes, and recommendations for riparian management. Biol Conserv 78:279–288

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider T, Ikemeyer D, Mueller O, Dumont HJ (2018) Checklist of the dragonflies (Odonata) of Iran with new records and notes on distribution and taxonomy. Zootaxa 4394:1–40

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Seidu I, Danquah E, Ayine Nsor C, Amaning Kwarteng D, Lancaster LT (2017) Odonata community structure and patterns of land use in the Atewa Range Forest Reserve, Eastern Region (Ghana). Intern J Odonatol 20:173–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Suhling F, Jödicke R, Schneider W (2003) Odonata of African arid regions–are there desert species. Cimbebasia 18:207–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Suhling F, Sahlén G, Martens A, Marais E, Schütte C (2006) Dragonfly assemblages in arid tropical environments: a case study from western Namibia. Biodivers Conserv 15:311–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Suhling F, Martens A, Marais E (2009) How to enter a desert—patterns of Odonata colonisation of arid Namibia. Intern J Odonatol 12:287–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Suhling F, Sahlén G, Gorb S, Kalkman VJ, Dijkstra K-DB, van Tol J (2015) Order Odonata. In: Thorp J, Rogers DC (eds) Ecology and general biology: Thorp and Covich's freshwater invertebrates, 4th edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 893–932

    Google Scholar 

  • Vellend M, Cornwell WK, Magnuson-Ford K, Mooers A (2011) Measuring phylogenetic biodiversity. In: Biological diversity: frontiers in measurement and assessment, Oxford University Press, Oxford:194–207

    Google Scholar 

  • Zia A, Amad-Ud-Din IA, Munir A, Afsheen S (2018) Effect of salinity gradients on species composition of Odonata naiads. Arthropods 7(1):11

    Google Scholar 

  • Zohary M (1973) Geobotanical foundations of the Middle East. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Alexander Mackintosh for his help in linguistic editing of the text. Also we are very thankful to Mohammad Eslami, Mohsen Kiani, Mohammad Javad Ghasempour and Saber Bakhtiari for their field assistance, and to Hamid Reza Zolfaghari from Khansar Ministry of Agriculture whose provide us accommodation during our field trips.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Zohreh Eslami Barzoki, Mehregan Ebrahimi & Saber Sadeghi

  2. College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    Mehregan Ebrahimi

Authors
  1. Zohreh Eslami Barzoki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mehregan Ebrahimi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Saber Sadeghi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saber Sadeghi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOCX 16 kb)

Supplementary file2 (XLSX 15 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Eslami Barzoki, Z., Ebrahimi, M. & Sadeghi, S. Odonata diversity and species assemblages in the Northwest Central Plateau of Iran. J Insect Conserv 24, 459–471 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00211-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-019-00211-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation