Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communities
Alpine regions host diverse habitats and rich biodiversity. Yet, aquatic environments, crucial for many threatened alpine species, are underrepresented in conservation throughout the Alps. Among many factors, anthropogenization impacts alpine aquatic ecosystems. While anthropogenic ponds are propose...
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Elsevier
2025-10-01
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| Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425003099 |
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| author | Felix Puff Christian H. Schulze Roberto Novella-Fernandez Andreas Hilpold Stefan Pinkert Elia Guariento |
| author_facet | Felix Puff Christian H. Schulze Roberto Novella-Fernandez Andreas Hilpold Stefan Pinkert Elia Guariento |
| author_sort | Felix Puff |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Alpine regions host diverse habitats and rich biodiversity. Yet, aquatic environments, crucial for many threatened alpine species, are underrepresented in conservation throughout the Alps. Among many factors, anthropogenization impacts alpine aquatic ecosystems. While anthropogenic ponds are proposed for biodiversity support, their suitability for the natural alpine freshwater biota remains unclear. Dragonflies and damselflies, with their ectothermic physiology and semi-aquatic life cycle, are greatly constrained by both temperature and habitat features, thus potentially facing additive constraints in alpine artificial waters. This study investigated Odonata communities in artificial and natural water bodies at 41 different elevations, analyzing abundance, diversity and traits associated with thermoregulation (body size and color lightness), life history (voltinism) and habitat preference (thermophily and habitat breadth). Temperature differently affected traits related to thermoregulation in dragonfly and damselfly communities, with an increase in body size and decrease in color lightness along decreasing temperature (i.e. increasing elevation) in dragonflies and an increase in color lightness in damselflies. Concurringly, damselfly abundances strongly decreased towards cold temperatures. In both suborders thermophily and habitat breadth decreased with decreasing temperature, but these trends were less pronounced in anthropogenic sites. Trait variation of dragonflies follows trends predicted by thermal melanism and Bergmann’s rule, while the absence of such trends in damselflies suggest limited thermoregulatory potential. The additive constraints of temperature and anthropogenic disturbance in alpine anthropogenic sites prevent alpine species to utilize such water bodies and challenges their potential for nature conservation in the face of global warming and biodiversity decline. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a9b51de0f2344336a134956a8c5b3e9d |
| institution | Matheson Library |
| issn | 2351-9894 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-10-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Global Ecology and Conservation |
| spelling | doaj-art-a9b51de0f2344336a134956a8c5b3e9d2025-07-02T04:50:24ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942025-10-0162e03708Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communitiesFelix Puff0Christian H. Schulze1Roberto Novella-Fernandez2Andreas Hilpold3Stefan Pinkert4Elia Guariento5Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, Vienna 1030, Austria; Institute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Viale Druso 1, Bolzano 39100, ItalyDepartment of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, Vienna 1030, Austria; Corresponding author.Department of Global Change Ecology, Biocentre, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Würzburg, GermanyInstitute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Viale Druso 1, Bolzano 39100, ItalyDepartment of Conservation Ecology, Philipps-University Marburg, Marburg, GermanyInstitute for Alpine Environment, Eurac Research, Viale Druso 1, Bolzano 39100, ItalyAlpine regions host diverse habitats and rich biodiversity. Yet, aquatic environments, crucial for many threatened alpine species, are underrepresented in conservation throughout the Alps. Among many factors, anthropogenization impacts alpine aquatic ecosystems. While anthropogenic ponds are proposed for biodiversity support, their suitability for the natural alpine freshwater biota remains unclear. Dragonflies and damselflies, with their ectothermic physiology and semi-aquatic life cycle, are greatly constrained by both temperature and habitat features, thus potentially facing additive constraints in alpine artificial waters. This study investigated Odonata communities in artificial and natural water bodies at 41 different elevations, analyzing abundance, diversity and traits associated with thermoregulation (body size and color lightness), life history (voltinism) and habitat preference (thermophily and habitat breadth). Temperature differently affected traits related to thermoregulation in dragonfly and damselfly communities, with an increase in body size and decrease in color lightness along decreasing temperature (i.e. increasing elevation) in dragonflies and an increase in color lightness in damselflies. Concurringly, damselfly abundances strongly decreased towards cold temperatures. In both suborders thermophily and habitat breadth decreased with decreasing temperature, but these trends were less pronounced in anthropogenic sites. Trait variation of dragonflies follows trends predicted by thermal melanism and Bergmann’s rule, while the absence of such trends in damselflies suggest limited thermoregulatory potential. The additive constraints of temperature and anthropogenic disturbance in alpine anthropogenic sites prevent alpine species to utilize such water bodies and challenges their potential for nature conservation in the face of global warming and biodiversity decline.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425003099Alpine environmentsSubstitute habitatsBergman’s ruleInsect communitiesElevational gradientHabitat filtering |
| spellingShingle | Felix Puff Christian H. Schulze Roberto Novella-Fernandez Andreas Hilpold Stefan Pinkert Elia Guariento Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communities Global Ecology and Conservation Alpine environments Substitute habitats Bergman’s rule Insect communities Elevational gradient Habitat filtering |
| title | Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communities |
| title_full | Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communities |
| title_fullStr | Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communities |
| title_full_unstemmed | Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communities |
| title_short | Artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon- and damselfly communities |
| title_sort | artificial ponds do not support the natural functional and taxonomic composition of alpine dragon and damselfly communities |
| topic | Alpine environments Substitute habitats Bergman’s rule Insect communities Elevational gradient Habitat filtering |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989425003099 |
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