Apeer-reviewed open-access journal

BioRisk 5: |—2 (2010) 1 1
doi: 10.3897/biorisk.5.854 EDITORIAL & B | O R IS k

http://biorisk-journal.com/

Monitoring climate change with Dragonflies:
Foreword

Jeffrey A. McNeely

IUCN, Gland, Switzerland

Corresponding author: Jeffrey A. McNeely (jam@iucn.org)

Academic editor: /iirgen Ott | Received 19 August 2010 | Accepted 31 August 2010 | Published 30 December 2010

Citation: McNeely JA (2010) Monitoring climate change with Dragonflies: Foreword. In: Ott J (Ed) (2010) Monitoring
Climatic Change With Dragonflies. BioRisk 5: 1-2. doi: 10.3897/biorisk.5.854

Climate change has become a cold reality for the public, or a hot disaster for those who
are suffering from extreme heat-related events such as the destructive fires in Australia
in early 2009. The symptoms of climate change are no longer possible to ignore, with
polar ice caps melting, glaciers receding, and the distribution of breeding birds steadily
moving northward.

The combination of sound science, as illustrated through the regular reports of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); the growing public awareness as
illustrated by the Oscar-winning film, “An Inconvenient Truth” narrated by Al Gore;
and the solid economic case made by the Report prepared for the British Government
by former World Bank Chief Economist, Nicholas Stern, have been crucial in putting
the issue squarely before the public.

And individuals, the private sector, and governments are all responding in various
ways. Terms like “carbon sequestration’, “carbon footprint”, and “energy efficiency”
are now part of the public vocabulary. All of this indicates that society at large may well
be finally taking the issue seriously.

But despite all of this, our understanding of the dynamics of climate change re-
mains surprisingly poor. But perhaps this is not so surprising, given the great complex-
ity of the global climate system, and the diversity of its symptoms in various parts of
the world. An effective means of providing solid scientific evidence for the changing
conditions would be a boon to decision-makers, from an individual to a Head of State.
Monitoring Climate Change with Dragonflies provides a novel and cost-effective
approach, using dragonflies as a means of monitoring climate change. As the authors

Copyright J.A. McNeely. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
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2 Jeffrey A. McNeely / BioRisk 5: 1-2 (2010)

of the various chapters have made very clear, dragonflies offer numerous advantages.
They are relatively easy to identify; they are very sensitive to changes in environmen-
tal conditions, including climate; different species have different distributions, with a
sufficient number of species to provide a rich source of data; they reproduce relatively
quickly, so changes over generations are revealed in a timely manner; and research
to date has indicated that the distribution of dragonflies is very sensitive to climate
change. Added to these advantages is another important one in a time of economic
distress: the monitoring process can be carried out on a regular basis on a very cost-
effective budget. Dragonfly studies are not capital-or equipment-intensive activities.
Further, the kinds of monitoring that are required can be done largely by students or
interested amateurs, with appropriate leadership and oversight from qualified experts.

All of these advantages indicate that dragonflies, which play many important eco-
logical roles in aquatic ecosystems, may become one of our most important allies in
documenting the effects of climate change. They can help provide early warning, de-
tailed evidence, rapid indication of changing climate patterns, and much else besides.

The rich flow of data that can come through a widespread collaborative network
collecting regular information on the distribution of dragonflies in relation to climate
change can also help provide insights into the responses that might be required to
modify land use to the emerging climatic reality. Monitoring Climate Change with
Dragonflies provides an important new tool for dealing with arguably the most im-
portant environmental challenge facing modern humanity. It provides a solid founda-
tion on which subsequent research can be built, and can help ensure that responses to
climate change are as appropriate as possible.

Jeffrey A. McNeely

Chief Scientist
IUCN
Gland, Switzerland