Vilenica Marina, Brigić Andreja, Štih Koren Ana, Koren Toni, Sertić Perić Mirela, Schmidt Bruno, Bužan Tomislava, Gottstein Sanja
Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb, Trg Matice Hrvatske 12, 44250 Petrinja, Croatia.
Department of Biology, Division of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, Horvatovac 102a, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Insects. 2024 Mar 20;15(3):207. doi: 10.3390/insects15030207.
As the human population in urban areas is continuously growing, urbanization is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. To mitigate the negative effects, the inclusion of blue zones (aquatic habitats) in modern urban development practices is strongly recommended, as they could be beneficial for the local biodiversity conservation. Odonata are a flagship group and are widely used in freshwater conservation as ecological indicators of habitat integrity and health. However, our understanding of their ecological requirements in urban landscapes is not yet complete. Therefore, we analyzed the taxonomic and functional diversity of Odonata in a semi-natural wetland in the Croatian capital. This study was conducted in the summers of 2020 and 2023. Most taxonomic and functional assemblage metrics were comparable between the two main habitat types, anthropogenically disturbed and natural oxbow lakes. However, significant differences were found in relation to the time scale, where most metrics were lower in 2023, indicating the negative impact of extreme climate events (including droughts) that occurred in this region after 2020. With 19 species recorded, our results indicate that semi-natural urban wetlands, especially natural oxbow lakes, have great potential to function as good habitats for Odonata, where even some species of conservation concern were detected. When developing landscape management plans in urban areas, it is essential to consider the importance of habitat heterogeneity in terms of good structure of aquatic macrophytes (presence of submerged, emergent and floating vegetation), which would ensure the most suitable habitat conditions for local Odonata species.
随着城市地区人口持续增长，城市化是生物多样性面临的最大威胁之一。为减轻负面影响，强烈建议在现代城市发展实践中纳入蓝色区域（水生栖息地），因为它们可能有助于当地生物多样性保护。蜻蜓目昆虫是一个旗舰类群，作为栖息地完整性和健康状况的生态指标，被广泛用于淡水保护。然而，我们对它们在城市景观中的生态需求的了解尚不完整。因此，我们分析了克罗地亚首都一个半自然湿地中蜻蜓目的分类多样性和功能多样性。这项研究在2020年和2023年夏季进行。在人为干扰的和天然的牛轭湖这两种主要栖息地类型之间，大多数分类和功能组合指标具有可比性。然而，在时间尺度方面发现了显著差异，2023年大多数指标较低，这表明2020年后该地区发生的极端气候事件（包括干旱）产生了负面影响。我们的研究结果显示，记录到19个物种，半自然城市湿地，尤其是天然牛轭湖，极有可能成为蜻蜓目的良好栖息地，甚至还发现了一些受保护的物种。在制定城市景观管理计划时，必须考虑水生大型植物良好结构（存在沉水、挺水和浮水植被）方面栖息地异质性的重要性，这将确保为当地蜻蜓目物种提供最适宜的栖息地条件。
