Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial variation in assemblages of Odonata (Insecta) within habitat gradients in large, pristine peat bogs in Belarus

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Biologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The variation in environmental conditions in peat bogs can be expressed by odonate assemblage composition among habitats or by differences in species richness, abundance and diversity among study sites in a regional context. The adult Odonata of large, pristine peat bogs in Belarus were examined. Adult Odonata were counted along fixed transects in main peat bog habitats under favorable weather conditions. The odonate diversity showed clear differences, affected by distance to the water body, wind speed, and bog water level. The highest diversity was recorded along lakeshores. This study detected distinct odonate assemblage variations among habitats such as lagg zones, lakeshores and hollows. The large areas occupied by pine bogs and open bogs had a very similar species composition and lower diversity. On the other hand, the Shannon diversity index (H′ = 1.433–2.295) and Pielou’s evenness index (J’ = 0.468–0.507) values were relatively high compared to those of terrestrial insects. The main differences among adult odonate assemblages were driven by cold-adapted, highly specialized species such as Leucorrhinia albifrons, Leucorrhinia dubia, Sympetrum danae and two abundant generalist species such as Sympetrum sanguineum and Sympetrum vulgatum. Peat bog specialists are among the most rapidly declining insects and, therefore, relatively intact Belarusian peat bogs are refuges for many threatened species and have considerable conservation potential.

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.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bambalov NN, Rakovich VA (2005) Mires in the biosphere. Belorusskaja kniga, Minsk

    Google Scholar 

  • Bates D, Maechler M, Bolker B, Walker S (2015) Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. J Stat Softw 67:1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bragg O, Lindsay R, Risager M, Silvius M, Zingstra H (2003) Strategy and action plan for mire and Peatland conservation in Central Europe. Wageningen, Wetlands International

    Google Scholar 

  • Buczynski P, Dijkstra K-DB, Mauersberger R, Moroz MD (2006) Review of the Odonata of Belarus. Odonatologica 35(1):1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Bulánková E (1997) Dragonflies (Odonata) as bioindicators of environmental quality. Biologia (Bratisl) 52:177–180

  • Cannings R A (2014) The dragonflies and damselflies (Odonata) of Canadian grasslands. In: Cárcamo HA, Giberson D J (eds) Arthropods of Canadian grasslands (volume 3): Biodiversity and systematics part 1. Biological Survey of Canada. Ottawa, pp 231–269

  • D'Amico F, Darblade S, Avignon S, Blanc-Manel S, Ormerod SJ (2004) Odonates as indicators of shallow lake restoration by liming: comparing adult and larval responses. Restor Ecol 12(3):439–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1061-2971.2004.00319.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delcourt PA, Delcourt HR (1992) Ecotone dynamics in space and time. In: Hansen AJ, di Castri F (eds) Landscape boundaries, Ecological studies (analysis and synthesis), vol 92. Springer, New York, pp 19–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2804-2_2

  • Dijkstra KDB, Lewington R (2006) Field guide to the dragonflies of Britain and Europe including Western Turkey and North-Western Africa. British Wildlife Publishing, Milton on Stour

    Google Scholar 

  • Elo M, Penttinen J, Kotiaho JS (2015) The effect of peatland drainage and restoration on Odonata species richness and abundance. BMC Ecol 15:11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12898-015-0042-z

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Flenner I, Sahlén G (2008) Dragonfly community re-organisation in boreal forest lakes: rapid species turnover driven by climate change? Insect Conserv Divers 1:169–179. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-4598.2008.00020.x

  • Fox J, Weisberg S (2019) An R companion to applied regression, Third edn. Sage, Los Angeles

  • Gillott C (2005) Entomology, Third edn. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3183-1

  • Hammer Ø, Harper DАТ, Ryan RD (2001) PAST: paleontological statistics software package for education and data analysis. Palaeontologia Electrónica 4(1):1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Joosten H (2012) Zustand und Perspektiven der Moore weltweit. Natur und Landschaft 87:50–55. https://doi.org/10.17433/2.2012.50153141.50-55

  • Joosten H, Clarke D (2002) Wise use of peatlands – background and principles including a framework for decision-making. International Mire Conservation Group and the International Peat Society, Jyväskylä

  • Kadoya T, Suda SI, Tsubaki Y, Washitani I (2008) The sensitivity of dragonflies to landscape structure differs between lifehistory groups. Landscape Ecol 23:149–158. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-54628-7

  • Kalkman VJ, Boudot J-P, Bernard R, Conze K-J, De Knijf G, Dyatlova E, Ferreira S, Jović M, Ott J, Riservato E, Sahlén G (2010) European red list of dragonflies. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg

    Google Scholar 

  • Kozulin AV (2002) Treasures of Belarusian nature. Areas of international significance for conservation of biological diversity. Belarus, Minsk

    Google Scholar 

  • Krieger A, Fartmann T, Poniatowski D (2019) Restoration of raised bogs–land-use history determines the composition of dragonfly assemblages. Biol Conserv 237:291–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.032

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Legendre P, Borcard D, Peres-Neto P (2005) Analyzing beta diversity: partitioning the spatial variation of community composition data. Ecol Monogr 75:435–450. https://doi.org/10.1890/05-0549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lepš J, Šmilauer P (2003) Multivariate analysis of ecological data using CANOCO. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511615146

  • Maavara V (1957) Endla rabade entomofauna. Eestj NVS Teeaduste Akadeemia Juures asuva loodusuurijate seeltsi 50:119–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (2004) Measuring biological diversity. Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Mielewczyk S (1969) Larwy ważek (Odonata) niektórych torfowisk sfagnowych Polski. Pol Pism Entomol 39(1):2–77

  • Mossakowski D, Frambs H, Lakomy W (2003) The Carabid and Staphylinid fauna of raised bogs. A comparison of Northwest Germany and the Baltic region. Balt J Coleopterol 3(2):137–144

  • Oksanen JR, Kindt P, Legendre B, O’Hara, Simpson G L, Stevens MH (2007) vegan: Community Ecology Package. http://r-project.org/. Accessed 25 September 2019

  • Peus F (1928) Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Tierwelt nord west deutscher Hochmoore. Eine okologische Studie. Insecten, Spinnentiere, Wirbeltiere. Zeitschr Morphol Oekol Tiere 12:533–683

  • R Development Core Team (2011) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna. URL https://www.R-project.org/

  • Red Book of the Republic Belarus (2015) Animals: rare and endangered species of wild animals. BelEn, Minsk. [In Russian]

  • Remm L, Sushko G (2018) Dragonfly fauna in rewetted mires in Belarus: diverse but different from natural sites. Wetl Ecol Manag 26(6):1173–1180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-018-9625-8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rydin H, Jeglum JK (2006) The biology of peatlands. Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528722.001.0001

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smallshire D, Beynon T (2010) Dragonfly monitoring scheme manual. British Dragonfly Society

  • Spitzer K, Danks HV (2006) Insect biodiversity of boreal peat bogs. Annu Rev Entomol 51:137–161. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ento.51.110104.151036

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Spungis V (2008) Fauna and ecology of terrestrial invertebrates in raised bog in Latvia. Latvias Entomology Bedriba, Riga

    Google Scholar 

  • Sushko G (2010) Dragonflies (Insecta, Odonata) of raised bogs Belarusian Lakeland. Bull Grodno State Univ Ser 5(3):124–128. [In Russian]

  • Sushko G (2014) Spatial distribution of epigeic beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera) in the "Yelnia" peat bog. Balt J Coleopterol 14(2):151–161

  • Sushko G (2016) Succession changes in diversity and assemblages composition of planthoppers and leafhoppers in natural ancient peat bogs in Belarus. Biodiv Conserv 25(14):2947–2963. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1212-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sushko G (2017) Taxonomic composition and species diversity of insect assemblages in grass–shrub cover of peat bogs in Belarus. Contemp Probl Ecol 10(3):259–270. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1995425517030106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sushko G (2018) Effect of vegetation cover on the abundance and diversity of ladybirds (Coccinellidae) assemblages in a peat bog. Biologia 73(4):371–377. https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-018-0045-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sushko G (2019) Key factors affecting the diversity of sphagnum cover inhabitants with the focus on ground beetle assemblages in central-eastern European peat bogs. Community Ecol 20(1):45–52. https://doi.org/10.1556/168.2019.20.1.5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tews J, Brose U, Grimm V, Tielbo Ёrger K, Wichmann M, Schwager M, Jeltsch F (2003) Animal species diversity driven by habitat heterogeneity/diversity: the importance of keystone structures. J Biogeogr 31:79–92. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0305-0270.2003.00994.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warton DI, Wright TW, Wang Y (2012) Distance-based multivariate analyses confound location and dispersion effects. Meth Ecol Evol 3:89–101. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00127.x

  • Zeliankevich N, Grummo D, Sozinov О, Galanina О (2016) Flora and Vegetation of the raised bogs of Belarus. Story Media Proekt, Minsk

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuur AF, Ieno IN, Walker N, Saveliev AA, Smith GM (2009) Mixed effects models and extensions in ecology with R. Springer, Berlin https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87458-6

  • Zuur AF, Ieno IN, Elphick CS (2010) A protocol for data exploration to avoid common statistical problems. Meth Ecol Evol 1:3–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2009.00001.x

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author is thankful to A. Lukashuk (Domzeritsy, Belarus) for the taxonomic assistance in determining and.

verifying various species of Odonata. I would like to thank Rob Cannings (Royal BC Museum, Canada) for English language editing. Moreover, I grateful to two anonymous referees for valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Environmental Protection, Vitebsk State University P.M. Masherov, Moscovski Ave. 33, 21005, Vitebsk, Belarus

    Gennadi Sushko

Authors
  1. Gennadi Sushko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gennadi Sushko.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that he has 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

ESM 1

(DOCX 25 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sushko, G. Spatial variation in assemblages of Odonata (Insecta) within habitat gradients in large, pristine peat bogs in Belarus. Biologia 76, 575–583 (2021). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-020-00558-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/s11756-020-00558-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation