Poster Details
DRAGONFLY AND DAMSELFLY (ODONATA) BIODIVERSITY IN INTERDUNAL WETLANDS AT SAUGATUCK HARBOR NATURAL AREA, MICHIGAN
Great Lakes coastal sand dunes feature rare wetland habitats called interdunal wetlands. These fishless wetlands likely support rare and potentially unique plant and animal communities. Odonates (dragonflies and damselflies) are conspicuous predators within fishless wetlands and the adjacent terrestrial habitat. Our objective was to describe the diversity of Odonata within the interdunal wetland complex at Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area (SHNA). We asked: 1) does the odonate assemblage change over time, 2) what is the adult flight phenology of species within SHNA, and 3) what environmental factors contribute to larval assemblage composition among ponds? We collected larval and adult odonates from four wetlands once a month from May through September 2017. In total 53 species were identified representing 31.5% of the recorded number of odonate species in the state of Michigan. Assemblages changed over the collection period due to species emergence timing. Flight seasons ranged from one day to the duration of the collection period. Larval odonate assemblages were structured along a salinity gradient. This research is the first of its kind to document diversity of the odonate assemblage within an interdunal wetland complex in the Great Lakes region.
Devon Volz (Primary Presenter/Author), Western Michigan University, devonvolz@gmail.com;
Tiffany Schriever (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Western Michigan University, tiffany.schriever@wmich.edu;