Dragonfly and Damselfly (Insecta, Odonata) Distributions in Ontario, Canada: Investigating the Influence of Climate Change

By

Beatty, Christopher
Fraser, Stewart
Pérez-Jvostov, Felipe
Sherratt, Thomas

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2010

Original Publication

BioRisk : biodiversity & ecosystem risk assessment

Volume

5

Pages

225-241

Subjects

temperature, Odonata, climate change, range extens

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.5.852

 

Abstract

We analysed temperature data and odonate distribution data collected in the province of Ontario, Canada, over approximately sixty years. Analysis of temperature data from 31 weather stations collected in the years 1945–2000 showed an overall significant increase in the minimum, maximum and mean monthly temperatures; these trends were not adjusted for changes in urbanisation. Comparison of county level presence/absence data for odonates from the 1950´s and 2002 found a slight decrease in the northernmost distributions of some species, although no significant patterns were evident. Lower sampling coverage in the larger, more northerly counties in Ontario, as well as the assessment of distributions based on county records may limit the sensitivity of our approach in detecting changes in odonate species distributions over time. Future work should focus on increasing the coverage, uniformity and geographic detail of available datasets, as well as evaluating range change through testing predictions based on the ecology and biogeography of odonate species.