Dragonflies and Damselflies Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research

This research level text documents the latest advances in odonate biology and relates these to a broader ecological and evolutionary research agenda. Despite being one of the smallest insect orders, dragonflies offer a number of advantages for both laboratory and field studies. In fact, they continue to make a crucial contribution to the advancement of our broader understanding of insect ecology and evolution. This new edition provides a critical summary of the major advances in these fields.

The editors have carefully assembled a fresh set of contributions from a diverse geographic mix of both junior and senior researchers in dragonfly biology to offer new perspectives and paradigms as well as additional, unpublished data. These include theoretical and applied chapters (including those addressing conservation and monitoring) as well as a balance of emerging (e.g. molecular evolution) and established research topics, providing suggestions for future study in each case. This accessible text is not about dragonflies per se but is an essential source of knowledge that describes how different sets of evolutionary and ecological principles and ideas have been tested on a particular taxon.

Dragonflies and Damselflies is suitable for graduate students and researchers in entomology, evolutionary biology, population and behavioural ecology, community ecology, and conservation biology. It will be of particular interest and use to those working on insects and an indispensable reference text for odonate biologists.

Alex Cordoba-Aguilar, Researcher, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico,Christopher Beatty, Visiting Scholar, Program for Conservation Genomics, Stanford University,Jason Bried, Research Scientist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Professor Alex Córdoba-Aguilar is a research scientist at the Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He has over 150 refereed publications (ISI Web of Knowledge) on insect behavior, physiology, ecology and evolution. He is the editor of three OUP books: Dragonflies and Damselflies: Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research; The Evolution of Primary Sexual Characters in Animals (co-edited with Janet Leonard); Insect Behavior: From Mechanisms to Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences (co-edited with D. González-Tokman and I. González-Santoyo).


Christopher D. Beatty is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, USA. He has 25 refereed publications with more than 500 total citations (ISI Web of Knowledge) on the evolution of warning signaling and mimicry, territoriality and the evolution of coloration in odonates, phylogenetics and biogeography. He is a contributing author to two books on the ecology and life history of aquatic insects.


Jason T. Bried is a Research Assistant in the Department of Integrative Biology at Oklahoma State University, USA. His main research areas include insect conservation, applied odonatology (dragonflies and damselflies), wetland assessment and classification, sampling and analysis issues, floristic quality assessment, restoration monitoring, and community ecology.

1. Introduction, Alex Cordoba-Aguilar, Christopher Beatty, and Jason Bried
SECTION 1: GENOMICS
2. The era of genomics: how are odonates good models for research?, Maren Wellenreuther, Rachel Dudaniec, and Leslie Lancaster
3. Transcriptomics behind color and vision genes, Seth Bybee, Maren Wellenreuther, Ryo Futahashi, Camilla Sharkey, Sabrina Simon, and Anton Suvorov
SECTION 2: ORGANISMAL STUDIES
4. Functional morphology, Sebastian Büsse and Esther Appel
5. Flight and dispersion, Richard Bomphrey and Simon Walker
6. Immunity and pathogens, Adam Hasik and Jaakko Ilvonen
7. Perception, Rosalind Murray, Adam Sapielsky, Manuela Rebora, and Silvana Piersanti
8. Thermoregulation, Mike May, Ulises Castillo, and Alex Cordoba-Aguilar
SECTION 3: POPULATION ECOLOGY
9. Genetic structure, Rosa Ana Sánchez-Guillén, Yesenia Vega-Sánchez, and Melissa Sánchez-Herrera
10. Mark recapture and demography, Iago Sanmartín-Villar and Adolfo Cordero-Rivera
11. Migration, Michael L May and John Matthews
12. Dispersal and metapopulation ecology, Shannon McCauley, Celina Baines, and Karen Mabry
13. Biogeographical ecology, Christopher Beatty, Fernanda Alves-Martins, Brenda "Bee" Smith, and Julie Verheyen
SECTION 4: COMMUNITY ECOLOGY
14. Evolutionary community ecology, Adam Siepielski, Miguel Gomez-Llano, and Adam Hasik
15. Competition and coexistence, Greg Grether, Adam Siepielski, and Miguel Gomez-Llano
16. Trophic ecology, Arnaud Sentis, Lenin Chari, Olga Popova, Justin Pomeranz,Kari Kaunisto, Nassim Tuzun,David Boukal, and Robby Stoks
17. Metacommunity ecology, Jason Bried, Fernanda Alves Martins,Leandro Brasil, and Shannon McCauley
18. Diversity in changing landscapes, Brenda "Bee" Smith, Leniz Calvao, Goran Sahlen, Francesco Cerini,Leandro Juen,Marina Velenica, Mary Ann Perron, Giacomo Assandri, Giovanna Vilalobos, and Jason Bried
SECTION 5: PHYLOGENETICS, SYSTEMATICS, AND BIOINFORMATICS
19. Species description and identification, Ângelo Parise Pinto, Milen Marinov, and Cornelio Bota-Sierra
20. Paleo-odonatology, André Nel and Bertrand Piney
21. Phylogenetics, Manpreet Kohli and Jessica Ware
22. Phylogeography, Melissa Sánchez-Herrera, Yesenia Vega-Sánchez,Christopher Beatty, and Manpreet Kohli
23. Collections and databases, John Abbott and Emily Sandall
SECTION 6: APPLIED ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
24. Functional traits and extinction risk, Maya Rocha-Ortega, Emily Sandall, Xavier Sanchez, Charl Deacon, Stefan Pinkert, Michael Patten, and Rassim Khelifa
25. Biodiversity surrogates, Gabriella Kietzka, Charl Deacon, and Michael Patten
26. Environmental health and biomonitoring, Hana Sigutova, Jose Max Barbosa de Oliveira Jr, Leandro Juen,Michael Samways,Khuong Van Dinh,Sonke Hardersen, Ales Dolny, and Jason Bried
27. Climate change, Stefan Pinkert, Paulo De Marco Jr,Frank Johansson, Viola Clausnitzer, and Daniel Acquah-Lamptey
28. Restoration ecology, Filip Harabis, John Simaika, Sarah Luke, Ales Dolny, Michael Samways, and Merja Elo
29. Human dimensions, Amanda Dillon, Chris Goforth, Jenilee Montes, Ami Thompson, Erin White, Viola Clausnitzer,John Simaika, and Rassim Khelifa