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Alex Córdoba-Aguilar (ed): Dragonflies and damselflies. Model organisms for

ecological and evolutionary research

Article  in  Journal of Insect Conservation · June 2009

DOI: 10.1007/s10841-009-9217-2

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J Insect Conserv (2009) 13:363–365
DOI 10.1007/s10841-009-9217-2
BOOK REVIEW
Alex Córdoba-Aguilar (ed): Dragonflies and damselflies. Model
organisms for ecological and evolutionary research
Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2008, Hardback, Sterling £65.00,
ISBN 978-0-19-923069-3, 288 pages
Casper J. Breuker
Published online: 4 March 2009
Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009
The book title labels dragonflies and damselflies as model
organisms for ecological and evolutionary research. The
use of the word ‘model’ in the subtitle of the book is a
deliberate ploy by the editor Alex Córdoba-Aguilar. He
argues that although a reasonable number of people in the
world work on these fascinating animals and that they
publish a respectable number of papers each year, world-
domination by Odonata as an arthropod model system for
evolutionary and ecological research is unlikely to happen
in the near future. But odonates should be considered as
model species, and this is exactly what Alex Córdoba-
Aguilar aims to highlight with this book. The philosophy
behind the book is to give an overview of research into
fundamental issues in ecology and evolutionary biology
using damselflies and dragonflies. This is different from
describing Odonata from an evolutionary ecological per-
spective, which has been done before (e.g. by the late Phil
Corbet, who provided the foreword). As such, Alex Cór-
doba-Aguilar also strives to point out both the advantages
and disadvantages of using Odonata as a model system.
The inevitable question is therefore: does the book pro-
vide evidence for the use of odonates as a model system for
ecological and evolutionary research? The answer is ‘yes’
and the evidence is in the form of 20 excellent chapters
written by many of today’s experts in Odonata research.
Although the chapters clearly speak for themselves, I do
think it would have been appropriate to have had a short
C. J. Breuker (&)
Evolutionary Developmental Biology Research Group,
Sinclair Building, School of Life Sciences,
Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane,
Headington, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
e-mail: cbreuker@brookes.ac.uk
concluding chapter by the editor given his aims underlying
this book. This chapter could have usefully reviewed the
merits of Odonata in ecology and evolutionary and con-
servation biology, as well as identifying possible new
avenues for research and the contributions Odonata are
likely to make to some topical and important research areas
such as ecological and evolutionary developmental biology
and conservation ecology.
All the contributing authors seem to fully agree that
damselflies and dragonflies are ideally suited for studying
migration and dispersal of animals in relation to a variety
of environmental factors in the field, including the
dynamics of ecological communities and ecosystems, and
natural and sexual selection, because of the ease with
which they can marked, manipulated and recaptured.
Furthermore, various chapters in the book highlight that
odonates have an exemplary track record of being used in
metapopulation modelling. This, therefore, makes them an
excellent model system to study the effects of changing
environmental conditions (e.g. related to climate change,
environmental pollution, water quality, and habitat frag-
mentation) on life-history strategies, population dynamics
and adaptability of animals in the field rather than in the
laboratory. Several authors did, however, point out that
capturing, handling and marking odonates seems to pro-
duce some changes in their behaviour. This may of course
confound the robustness of the results obtained and is an
area warranting consideration when designing studies for
future research. Furthermore, most mark-release-recapture
studies have used adults. In order to quantify selection
pressures at different life-stages the approach needs to be
broadened. This would allow for a more holistic
approach, identifying stage-specific environmental effects
and possible constraints on the evolution of life-history
strategies.
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364
An area of research that is rapidly (re)gaining a great
deal of attention is that of plasticity in development,
behaviour, physiology and life-history strategies in meeting
the demands of a variable environment. The advantages of
anticipating environmental change and/or responding to
current variable conditions are obvious, but to what extent
such adaptive plasticity is being selected for is still not
clear. It is, for example, unclear what the long-term fitness
costs and benefits are of life-history variation in response to
environmental variation. From a conservation perspective,
for example, there is a pressing need to investigate this
issue. Again, several authors provide sound evidence that
odonates provide a very good model system to investigate
such issues by using a joint lab-based and field-based
approach.
Among the more interesting chapters in the book
(chapter 9) is the one about dragonflies as service provid-
ers. One of the big selling points of damselflies and
dragonflies is that they, along with butterflies, are excellent
indicators of environmental quality and thus ideal for
conservation ecology studies. Furthermore, dragonflies and
damselflies are iconic insects and can easily be used for
communicating important findings in (conservation) ecol-
ogy and evolutionary biology to a large audience. There are
even dragonfly recreational parks in Japan, where dragon-
flies are held in high esteem.
The fact that dragonflies and damselflies lie at the base of
the winged insects (Pterygota) and belong to the ‘‘oldest’’
winged insects in existence is another aspect that makes
them unique and very exciting. This phylogenetic position
means that they can provide most useful information on the
evolution of the morphological diversification and
mechanics of insect wings and the general body plan of the
winged insects. These issues are addressed in the two
excellent concluding chapters (chapters 19 and 20), which
are on the mechanics and morphology of dragonfly wings
and associated flight performance.
Apart from the study by Marden in chapter 19, who
discusses his findings on the alternative splicing of the pre-
mRNA of a muscle regulatory protein, and its significance
in relation to flight performance (Marden et al. 1999), the
book lacks examples of research using (the latest) molec-
ular techniques to study odonate (conservation) ecology
and evolution. Such studies do, however, exist and include
for example: (1) the use of molecular markers such as
microsatellites in life-history, metapopulation and conser-
vation ecology studies (Watts et al. 2006; Carballa et al.
2007; Hadrys et al. 2007; Watts et al. 2007; Chaput-Bardy
et al. 2008), (2) DNA barcoding, sequencing of the mito-
chondrial genome and the use mtDNA in population
genetic and phylogenetic studies (Yamauchi et al. 2004;
Nolan et al. 2007; Bybee et al. 2008; Rach et al. 2008), and
(3) the use of molecular markers (e.g. AFLP) in the study
123
J Insect Conserv (2009) 13:363–365
of sexual selection and colour pattern variation (Abbott
et al. 2008). Furthermore, a number of research projects by
Hadrys, Schierwater and colleagues are currently address-
ing the evolution of insect wings and associated thorax
muscles (and thus flight patterns and wing morphology)
from an evolutionary developmental (i.e. evo-devo) per-
spective. They are in the process of collecting genomic
data (e.g. EST data) and comparing the developmental
genetic pathways (including Hox gene expression) under-
lying odonate wing traits and body plans with those in
other insect groups.
On the basis of the studies presented in the book, the
increasing implementation of molecular tools, and the very
exciting current evo-devo and sequencing efforts, I con-
sider that the future for Odonata as true model organisms in
ecology and evolution is very bright indeed and that this
book has done an excellent job in promoting these won-
derful insects for conservation.
References
Abbott JK, Bensch S, Gosden TP, Svensson EI (2008) Patterns of
differentiation in a colour polymorphism and in neutral markers
reveal rapid genetic changes in natural damselfly populations.
Mol Ecol 17:1597–1604
Bybee SM, Ogden TH, Branham MA, Whiting MF (2008) Molecules,
morphology and fossils: a comprehensive approach to odonate
phylogeny and the evolution of the odonate wing. Cladistics
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Carballa OL, Giere S, Cordero A, Hadrys H (2007) Isolation and
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the citrine forktail, Ischnura hastata (Odonata : Coenagrionidae).
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