Female-limited polychromatism is frequent in many species of Odonata. Ischnura elegans has three colour morphs: one male-like coloured (androchrome) a

Dispersal is an essential process in population and community dynamics, but is difficult to measure in the field. In freshwater ecosystems, information on biological traits related to organisms’ morphology, life history and behaviour provides useful dispersal proxies, but information remains scattered or unpublished for many taxa. We compiled information on multiple dispersal-related biological traits of European aquatic macroinvertebrates in a unique resource, the DISPERSE database. DISPERSE includes nine dispersal-related traits subdivided into 39 trait categories for 480 taxa, including Annelida, Mollusca, Platyhelminthes, and Arthropoda such as Crustacea and Insecta, generally at the genus level. Information within DISPERSE can be used to address fundamental research questions in metapopulation ecology, metacommunity ecology, macroecology and evolutionary ecology. Information on dispersal proxies can be applied to improve predictions of ecological responses to global change, and to inform improvements to biomonitoring, conservation and management strategies. The diverse sources used in DISPERSE complement existing trait databases by providing new information on dispersal traits, most of which would not otherwise be accessible to the scientific community.

We review the studies of evolution and ecology in the Calopterygidae. Adults are easily distinguished for their pigmented wings and territorial behaviour. Three genera have been well studied: Hetaerina, Calopteryx and Mnais. Larvae develop in riverine aquatic environments. Selection operates at this stage to produce large muscle mass for adults. The adult spends some days until sexually ready. During this time, it feeds extensively to produce muscle fat for egg production and flight. However, gregarine parasites may ingest the fat reserves. Males may use two mating tactics or strategies that may be genetically (Mnais) or environmentally (Calopteryx and Hetaerina) determined: territoriality and nonterritoriality. In Mnais, these strategies appear balanced in fitness terms. Males of Calopteryx, Mnais and Phaon show a precopulatory courtship that is not the case for Hetaerina. Male wing pigmentation seems to signal how good the male is to deal immunologically with parasites to females during the male courtship. During copulation, males displace the sperm the female has stored in the storage organs from previous matings. There is an enormous variation in male sperm displacement mechanisms and ability, and in genitalic morphology in both sexes. This variation possibly results from a coevolutionary game between the sexes to control stored sperm. After copulation, males guard females apparently to avoid that other males take the female in copulation. Our review suggests sources for research in this family.

The concept of biodiversity embraces a multifaceted and hierarchical analysis of the complexity of life, with implications in many areas of science, philosophy, ethics, politics and even religion. Three levels are included in the commonly accepted definitions: genetical, species and ecosystem diversity, going from the intraspecific level to the landscape. Here I argue that a fourth level, never included in biodiversity studies, is of prominent relevance: ethological diversity or “ethodiversity”. There is a growing number of studies describing alternative behaviours, behavioural plasticity, learning and even personality, as characteristics of animal populations or individuals. Ethodiversity is also relevant in unravelling cryptic biodiversity, such as species that differ in their behaviour but are otherwise undistinguishable. Maintaining ethodiversity is therefore essential in conservation, and cannot be achieved simply by focusing on genetic diversity. Behaviour has profound ecological consequences, particularly in species interactions, and is a crucial element in the adaptability of animals to new environments. Ethodiversity is important at the intraspecific, inter-population, and species level and has practical relevance in several fields, like captive breeding, eco-novelty and popular science. Finally, I expect ethodiversity to show a latitudinal cline, with more diverse and elaborate behaviours per species in the tropical regions, given the increase in interactions near the equator.

Studying contemporary hybridization increases our understanding of introgression, adaptation and, ultimately, speciation. The sister species Ischnura elegans and I. graellsii (Odonata: Coenagrionidae) are ecologically, morphologically and genetically similar and hybridize. Recently, I. elegans has colonized northern Spain, creating a broad sympatric region with I. graellsii. Here, we review the distribution of both species in Iberia and evaluate the degree of introgression of I. graellsii into I. elegans using six microsatellite markers (442 individuals from 26 populations) and five mitochondrial genes in sympatric and allopatric localities. Furthermore, we quantify the effect of hybridization on the frequencies of the genetically controlled colour polymorphism in females of both species.