The effects of environmental warming on Odonata: a review

Christopher Hassall,David J Thompson

doi:10.1080/13887890.2008.9748319

Abstract

Abstract Climate change brings with it unprecedented rates of increase in environmental temperature, which will have major consequences for the earth's flora and fauna. The Odonata represent a taxon that has many strong links to this abiotic factor due to its tropical evolutionary history and adaptations to temperate climates. Temperature is known to affect odonate physiology including life-history traits such as developmental rate, phenology and seasonal regulation as well as immune function and the production of pigment for thermoregulation. A range of behaviours are likely to be affected which will, in turn, influence other parts of the aquatic ecosystem, primarily through trophic interactions. Temperature may influence changes in geographical distributions, through a shifting of species' fundamental niches, changes in the distribution of suitable habitat and variation in the dispersal ability of species. Finally, such a rapid change in the environment results in a strong selective pressure towards ada...

Highlights

The causes of the current phase of environmental warming have received a great deal of attention both from within the scientific literature and in the public sphere
Population-level adaptations in developmental rate to local thermal regimes have been demonstrated in Argia vivida Hagen in Selys, 1865, a species found in a range of temperature environments (Leggott & Pritchard 1985)
The Odonata exhibit a range of adaptations that allow them to respond to variations in temperature

Summary

Introduction

The causes of the current phase of environmental warming have received a great deal of attention both from within the scientific literature and in the public sphere. Population-level adaptations in developmental rate to local thermal regimes have been demonstrated in Argia vivida Hagen in Selys, 1865, a species found in a range of temperature environments (Leggott & Pritchard 1985). Responses to temperature in nature are potentially complicated by a range of species-specific responses to changing photoperiod (summarised in Corbet 2004, table 7.6).

Results

Conclusion