Dragonflies and Damselflies of the Lower Santa Cruz River: Brilliant Biodiversity and Opportunities for Community Engagement
Pima County Regional Flood Control District Monthly Brown Bag Series
Speaker: Michael Bogan, Assistant Professor, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, UA
Date / Time: Wednesday, February 13, 12–1 PM
Location: 201 North Stone Ave, 9th Floor
One of the most diverse groups of aquatic invertebrates in the effluent-supported lower Santa Cruz River is the Odonata, which includes dragonflies and damselflies. Their larval life stages are aquatic and the colorful adults hunt insect prey, seek shelter, and mate in riparian areas. We surveyed for adult and larval odonates at 10 sites along the lower Santa Cruz from April 2017 to July 2018. We gathered additional records from experts as well as photo-verified records from iNaturalist. In total, 40 species of dragonflies and damselflies are currently known from the lower Santa Cruz, representing 29% of species known from Arizona. Thirty-five species occur in the river, with an additional five occurring at Sweetwater Wetlands. Developing community science monitoring projects, using iNaturalist or other platforms, could help connect local residents to the river and provide important phenological and species diversity data to improve management of the lower Santa Cruz River.