Sampling efficiency of a protocol to measure Odonata diversity in tropical streams.

Paulo De Marco,Luiz Ubiratan Hepp,Lourivaldo Amancio De Castro,Victor Rennan Santos Ferreira,Helena Soares Ramos Cabette,Leandro Juen,Joana Darc Batista

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248216

Abstract

Odonata can be sampled following different types of protocols. In Brazil, the most used protocol is the scanning in fixed areas method, where a 100-meter transect is delimited in one of the stream margins, subdivided into 20 segments measuring 5 meters. Despite being universally used, the methodological efficiency or limitations of this protocol for Odonata has never been tested. In this scenario, our objective was to assess the efficiency of the sampling protocol to measure the richness and composition of Odonata in three fundamental aspects: the time of sampling and sampling effort over time and space. We show that the best sampling efficiency was achieved in collections performed at noon, in transects measuring 100 meters, requiring at least two samplings in the same location, supporting the procedures traditionally adopted by many studies with the group. While comparing species composition, we did not see any implication between the different treatments on the capture of the local species pool. However, we highlight and discuss some possible methodological flaws when using this protocol to sample specific Odonata groups. We believe the results obtained are fundamental in the inventory of species and to conduct future studies, as well as to aid conservative measures that use the order Odonata as a tool for environmental monitoring.

Highlights

The number of scientific studies addressing the Odonata order has increased in the last years [1, 2]
To get the idea of this growth, from 1945 to 2021, we found a total of 4.713 articles when searching the term “Odonata” as a filter on the “Web of Science” platform. The contribution of these articles is more consistent in different research areas in ecology, especially modelling, macroecology, and intra/interspecific relationships [1]
As observed, due to the increased availability of solar energy and the ecophysiological requirements of the group, we expected dragonflies would be more active and next to water bodies in the hours following noon, which allowed for more efficient sampling

Summary

Introduction

The number of scientific studies addressing the Odonata order has increased in the last years [1, 2]. To get the idea of this growth, from 1945 to 2021, we found a total of 4.713 articles when searching the term “Odonata” as a filter on the “Web of Science” platform. The contribution of these articles is more consistent in different research areas in ecology, especially modelling, macroecology, and intra/interspecific relationships [1]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion