The use of highly diverse clades as a surrogate for habitat integrity analysis: Argia damselflies as a practical tool for rapid assessments.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int
; 29(16): 24334-24347, 2022 Apr.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35099694
ABSTRACT
Human activities have impacted many environments on earth, and thus several species are facing an increased risk of extinction. The environmental crisis requires rapid tools to assess the ecosystem health accurately. Studies have been conducted with visual indices that quantify habitat integrity by predicting species richness and diversity. However, whether a diverse clade can predict habitat integrity has not been used. The genus Argia (Rambur, 1842) is one of the most locally diverse groups in southeastern Mexico. In this context, we hypothesized that the occurrence, species richness, and diversity of adults Argia spp. could be a better predictor of the Visual-Based Habitat Assessment Score (VBHAS) than the other taxonomic levels or less diverse clades. We found that the richness and diversity of Argia spp. are positively correlated with VBHA scores, as same as taxonomic ratios. Simultaneously, VBHA scores increase to 23.51 times when Argia spp. diversity increases. We discuss the possible use of a diverse Odonata clade, as Argia spp. could surrogate habitat integrity for local long-term biomonitoring programs. This approach requires testing with other indices and verifying a reliable and consistent relationship between diverse clades and environmental assessment scores.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Odonatos
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Animals
/
Humans
País como assunto:
Mexico
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2022
Tipo de documento:
Article