title: Risk of local extinction of Odonata freshwater habitat generalists and specialists.
abstract: Understanding the risk of a local extinction in a single population relative to the habitat requirements of a species is important in both theoretical and applied ecology. Local extinction risk depends on several factors, such as habitat requirements, range size of species, and habitat quality. We studied the local extinctions among 31 dragonfly and damselfly species from 1930 to 1975 and from 1995 to 2003 in Central Finland. We tested whether habitat specialists had a higher local extinction rate than generalist species. Approximately 30% of the local dragonfly and damselfly populations were extirpated during the 2 study periods. The size of the geographical range of the species was negatively related to extinction rate of the local populations. In contrast to our prediction, the specialist species had lower local extinction rates than the generalist species, probably because generalist species occurred in both low- and high-quality habitat. Our results are consistent with source-sink theory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, FIN-40014, Jyväskylä, Finland; Section of Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Turku, FI-20014, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Suhonen
authors.forename: Esa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Korkeamäki
authors.forename: Jukka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salmela
authors.forename: Markku
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kuitunen
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005387:Finland; D005618:Fresh Water; D005843:Geography; D063191:Odonata / Q000502:physiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012621:Seasons
keywords: agua dulce; caballitos del diablo; damselfly; dinámicas source-sink; dragonfly; especies especialistas; especies generalistas; extinción; extinction; freshwater; generalist species; geographical range size; libélulas; source-sink; specialist species; tamaño del rango geográfico