The Ecology and Conservation of Damselfly Populations

Katherine AllenPopulation and Evolutionary Biology Research Group

School of Biological SciencesUniversity of Liverpool

Study species

Ischnura pumilio

Coenagrion mercuriale

Distribution

Mediterranean speciesNorth Africa

Europe and Middle East

Siberia

Northern range margin in UK

Restricted distribution

In decline in UK

Objectives

Understand population structure

Investigate dispersal potentialDetermine habitat requirements

Ischnura pumilo

Assess monitoring methodsCoenagrion

mercuriale

Facilitate conservation management

Methods

Understand population structure

Estimate population sizeConfidence limits for estimates

Investigate survivalEffect of age, sex, temperature, number of parasites

Program MARK

Statistical significance of differences between models

AIC / LRT

Investigate dispersal potential

Net lifetime movementMaximum and average values

Effect of sex, age, weather etcMultiple regression

Patterns of movementEffect of landscape features, wind direction and density of individuals Spatial statistics

Determine habitat requirements

Survey 32 sites, past and presentEnvironmental variables

Vegetation community

Other odonate species

Abundance of I. pumilio

Multivariate analysisOrdination

Assess monitoring methods

Pollard walk (Pollard 1977)Non-specialistRegular counts for monitoring through time

Relationship to MRR estimatesLarge C. mercuriale databasesI. pumilio data collected summer 2006

Regression

AcknowledgementsProfessor Dave Thompson

Dr Ian Harvey

NERC

Environment Agency

Dr Philip Corney

Sara Ball

Chris Gamble

Chris Hassall

Laura Johnson

Rebecca Moran

Justine Saelens

Amy Thompson

Helen Turner