HOMEWORK.
Introduction: ___2__
Discussion: __16___
Materials & Methods: __6___
Acknowledgments: __25___
Study Area: __6___
Literature Cited: __26___
Dragonfly Sampling: __8___
Statistical Analysis: __9___
Riffel, S. K. 1999. Road mortality of dragonflies (Odonata) in a Great Lakes coastal wetland. The Great Lakes Entomologist 32:63-73.
Carex stricta, upright sedge (in the paper provided for the task), but if we include reference to Table 1 in paragraph 2, then the answer would be Anax junius, common green darner.
Scientific names of species, otherwise known as binomial names, are always written in Latin (or based on Latin grammar) and composed of two words: first designates the genus and second is for species.
Road mortality of animal species is one of the direct impacts humans have on wildlife population dynamics. To measure the effect on less studied invertebrates, dragonflies (Odonata sp.) were selected as the study object since road killing supposedly should have higher impact on them due to the smaller population size and daylight activity of longer living adult forms. Located in Northern Michigan Mackinac bay wetland, adjacent to M-134 two-lane highway was chosen as study site as the road separates wet meadow and forest increasing the chance of insect-car collisions. The study was conducted in mid-summer of 1997 and included 25 different Odonata species. In total 1140 samples were collected and estimated mean daily mortality was 87.69/km ranging from 10 to a maximum of 256 in a single day. Observed sex - ratio mortality was majorly male-skewed accounting to 73% of all samples. Differences in life-history of the sexes can serve as a one of the feasible explanations for higher mortality of male adult dragonflies, though some species showed higher rate of female causalities and road killing would have more severe impact on these species. In order to preserve biological diversity of Odonata species, further investigation should be conducted on the effect road mortality have on insect populations.
