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SUMMARY:Freshwater fliers in changing landscapes: Diversity and evolution 
 of African dragonflies and damselflies - Klaas-Douwe B. Dijkstra - NCB-Nat
 uralis\, The Netherlands
DTSTART:20120124T160000Z
DTEND:20120124T170000Z
UID:TALK35184@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Oskar Brattstrom
DESCRIPTION:Environmental change affects aquatic insects\, like dragonflie
 s\, directly by determining the density\, scale\, permanence\, character a
 nd vegetation of their habitats. Adult flight also facilitates a direct re
 sponse to such changes\, limiting the potential of geological factors in t
 heir evolution. Africa experienced greater climatic variation in the last 
 16 million years than other tropics\, with a trend towards drier condition
 s\, and the climate is still more seasonal\, more irregular and drier than
  in tropical Asia and America. This change induced extensive extinctions\,
  especially in warm and wet environments\, but also gave rise to species t
 hat could straddle environmental and dispersal barriers as new habitat bec
 ame continuously available. Given Africa’s comparatively great topologic
 al continuity and tectonic stability\, ecological factors may have contrib
 uted disproportionally to the accumulation of its diversity. Dragonflies a
 re among the few aquatic groups for which reasonable taxonomic\, ecologica
 l and distributional overviews are feasible at continental levels\, especi
 ally in Africa\, yet have been broadly overlooked in research on diversifi
 cation. The presentation aims to explore the potential of these “freshwa
 ter fliers” in understanding ecological diversification and the evolutio
 n of freshwater biodiversity.
LOCATION:Part II Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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