Authors: Eva Driggs, Megan Cahoon, Seth Bybee
Mentors: Seth Bybee
Insitution: Brigham Young University
Odonates (dragonflies and damselflies) exhibit diverse coloration. These vibrant colors are important for species recognition, camouflage, and mate recognition. Adult odonates emerge in late spring, mate and reproduce, and die by fall. As color and seasonality are both important aspects of the adult stage in odonates, we pose the question: Does the odonate community color composition change over the season?
We hypothesize that different colors within the odonate community will peak in abundance at different times in the season. We conducted population estimates weekly at a local park in Provo and analyzed data from Utah, the Great Basin, and the West Coast (GBIF). From this data, we found that generally, blue odonates have the highest abundance throughout the season, but red odonate populations persist later in the season while blue populations decline which may be due to seasonal changes in heat and light.