Abstract
We compared populations of a forest damselfly —Calopteryx maculata — in two kinds of landscapes. In fragmented landscapes, forested foraging patches were separated from streams (where oviposition and mating occur) by up to 500 m of pasture. In non-fragmented landscapes, there was continuous forest cover adjacent to streams. The prevalence and intensity of midgut infections of a gregarine parasite were significantly lower in the fragmented landscapes than in the non-fragmented landscapes. We have shown elsewhere that in the fragmented landscapes, damselflies move over greater areas to forage than in the non-fragmented landscapes. We postulate that these movements lower the rate of encounter between damselflies and oocysts, thus lowering the prevalence and intensity of infection. The differences suggest that actual habitat fragmentation events would alter the relationship between host and parasite, but that populations of both species would persist after fragmentation. Prevalence of parasitism is related to age but we found no residual effects of size on parasitism.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Åbro, A. 1974. The gregarine infection in different species of Odonata from the same habitat. Zool. Scripta 3: 111–120.
Åbro, A. 1976. The mode of gregarine infection in Zygoptera (Odonata). Zool. Scripta 5: 265–275.
Åbro, A. 1987. Gregarine infection of Zygoptera in diverse habitats. Odonatologica 16: 119–128.
Addicott, J.F., Aho, J.M., Antolin, M.F., Padilla, D.K., Richardson, J.S. and Soluk, D.A. 1987. Ecological neighbourhoods: scaling environmental patterns. Oikos 49: 340–346.
Anholt, B.R. 1992. Sex and habitat differences in feeding by an adult damselfly. Oikos 65: 428–432.
Chambers, J.M. and Hastie, T. 1989. Statistical models in S. Wadsworth & Brooks, Pacific Grove, CA, USA.
Corbet, P.S. 1980. Biology of Odonata. Ann. Rev. Ent. 25: 189–217.
Dunning, J.B., Danielson, B.J. and Pulliam, H.R. 1992. Ecological processes that affect populations in complex landscapes. Oikos 65: 169–175.
Forbes, M.A. 1991. Ectoparasites and mating success of maleEnallagma ebrium damselflies (Odonata: Coenagrionidae). Oikos 60: 336–342.
Forbes, M.A. and Baker, R.L. 1991. Condition and fecundity of the damselfly,Enallagma ebrium (Hagen): the importance of ectoparasites. Oecologia 86: 335–341.
Forsyth, A. and Montgomerie, R.D. 1987. Alternative reproductive tactics in the territorial damselflyCalopteryx maculata: sneaking by older males. Behav. Ecol. and Sociobiol. 21: 73–81.
Ives, A.R., Kareiva, P. and Perry, R. 1993. Response of a predator to variation in prey density at three hierarchical scales: Lady beetles feeding on aphids. Ecology 74: 1929–1938.
Johnson, C. 1962. Breeding behaviour and oviposition inCalopteryx maculatum (Beauvois) (Odonata: Calopterygidae). Am. Mid. Nat. 68: 242–247.
Johnson, C. 1973. Ovarian development and age recognition in the damselfly,Argia moesta (Hagen 1961) (Zygoptera:Coenagrionidae). Odonatologica 2: 69–81.
Kareiva, P. 1987. Habitat fragmentation and the stability of predatory-prey interactions. Nature 326: 388–390.
Kotlier, N.B. and Wiens, J. 1990. Multiple scales of patchiness and patch structure: a hierarchical framework for the study of heterogeneity. Oikos 59: 253–260.
Kruess, A. and Tscharntke, T. 1994. Habitat fragmentation, species loss, and biological control. Science 264: 1581–1584.
Lord, J.M. and Norton, D.A. 1990. Scale and the spatial concept of fragmentation. Cons. Bio. 4: 197–202.
Marden, J.H. and Waage, J.K. 1990. Escalated damselfly territorial contests are energetic wars of attrition. Anim. Behav. 39: 954–959.
McCullagh, P. and Nelder J.A. 1989. Generalized Linear Models. Chapman & Hall, London.
Merriam, H.G. 1984. Connectivity: a fundamental ecological characteristic of landscape pattern.In Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Methodology in Landscape Ecological Research and Planning — Theme 1. pp. 5–15. Edited by J. Brandt and P. Agger. International Association for Landscape Ecology, Roskilde University, Roskilde.
Roland, J. 1993. Large-scale forest fragmentation increases the duration of tent caterpillar outbreak. Oecologia 93: 25–30.
Roland, J. and Taylor, P.D. 1995. Herbivore-natural enemy interactions in fragmented and continuous forests.In Population Dynamics: New Approaches and Synthesis. pp. 195–208. Edited by N. Cappuccino and P.W. Price. Academic Press.
Siegel, J.P., Novak, R.J. and Maddox, J.V. 1992. Effects ofAscogregarina barretti (Eugregarinida: Lecudinidae). infection onAedes triseriatus (Diptera: Culicidae) in Illinois. J. Med. Ent. 29: 968–973.
Taylor, P.D., Fahrig, L., Henein, K. and Merriam, G. 1993. Connectivity is a fundamental element of landscape structure. Oikos 68: 571–573.
Taylor, P.D., and Merriam, G. 1995. Wing morphology of a forest damselfly is related to landscape structure. Oikos 73: 43–48.
Waage, J.K. 1972. Longevity and mobility of adultCalopteryx maculata (Beauvois, 1805) (Zygoptera:Calopterygidae). Odonatologica 1: 155–162.
Wegner, J.F. and Merriam, G. 1990. Use of spatial elements in a farmlands mosaic by a woodland rodent. Biol. Conserv. 54: 263–276.
Wilkinson, L. 1990. SYSTAT: the system for statistics. Evanston, IL, USA
Zuk, M. 1987a. Seasonal and individual variation in gregarine parasite levels in the field cricketsGryllus veletis andG. pennsylvanicus. Ecol. Ent. 12: 341–348.
Zuk, M. 1987b. The effects of gregarine parasites on longevity, weight loss, fecundity and developmental time in the field cricketsGryllus veletis andG. pennsylvanicus. Ecol. Ent. 12: 349–354.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Taylor, P.D., Merriam, G. Habitat fragmentation and parasitism of a forest damselfly. Landscape Ecol 11, 181–189 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02447516
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02447516