Influences of Physical Vegetation Management on Odonata Abundance in Urbanized Ecosystem: a Case Study in Northern Taiwan

Abstract

Physical vegetation management has shown deep and diverse impacts on fauna diversity and abundance. However, it is still unclear to what degree management influences Odonata (dragonfly and damselfly) in urbanized ecosystems. In order to understand the crucial factors among Odonata (adults and larvae) and physical vegetation management in a highly urbanized environment, this study investigated the response of Odonata abundance and species richness to riparian and emergent aquatic vegetation management in artificial ponds. Our results showed that physical management of emergent macrophytes did have a significant effect on larval abundance. However, adult abundance and species richness did not show clear differences between different levels of riparian vegetation coverage. Water temperature, water pH value and the presence of emergent macrophytes were also crucial drivers of larval abundance though macrophytes had a stronger effect as compared to water quality. Overall, this study highlights the importance of marginal vegetation, especially emergent macrophytes, in highly urbanized environments. Our study suggests key management considerations for plant management in urban ponds which, when implemented, would work to enhance Odonata population and overall ecological value of artificial wetlands in cities.