Dragonflies and Damselflies (2^nd Ed.) Model Organisms for Ecological and Evolutionary Research

This research level text documents the latest advances in odonate biology and relates these to a broader ecological and evolutionary research agenda. Despite being one of the smallest insect orders, dragonflies offer a number of advantages for both laboratory and field studies. In fact, they continue to make a crucial contribution to the advancement of our broader understanding of insect ecology and evolution. This new edition provides a critical summary of the major advances in these fields. The editors have carefully assembled a fresh set of contributions from a diverse geographic mix of both junior and senior researchers in dragonfly biology to offer new perspectives and paradigms as well as additional, unpublished data. These include theoretical and applied chapters (including those addressing conservation and monitoring) as well as a balance of emerging (e.g. molecular evolution) and established research topics, providing suggestions for future study in each case. This accessible text is not about dragonflies per se but is an essential source of knowledge that describes how different sets of evolutionary and ecological principles and ideas have been tested on a particular taxon. Dragonflies and Damselflies is suitable for graduate students and researchers in entomology, evolutionary biology, population and behavioural ecology, community ecology, and conservation biology. It will be of particular interest and use to those working on insects and an indispensable reference text for odonate biologists.

ALEX CÓRDOBA-AGUILAR is a researcher at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. His research interests lie in insect ecology and conservation and disease vector control. He is the author on over 150 refereed publications and co-editor of two books, The Evolution of Primary Sexual Characters in Animals (OUP 2010) and Insect Behavior: from Mechanisms to Ecological and Evolutionary Consequences (OUP 2018). CHRISTOPHER D. BEATTY is a visiting Scholar in the Program for Conservation Genomics at Stanford University. His research interests are in evolutionary ecology, behavior, biogeography, and biodiversity. He has worked on the evolution of warning coloration, mimicry, territoriality, and species diversification, predominantly in odonates. He serves on the International Journal of Odonatology editorial board and holds a special interest in the petaltail dragonflies (family Petaluridae) and the damselfly genera Nesobasis and Polythore. JASON T. BRIED is a research scientist at the Illinois Natural History Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research interests are in community ecology, applied ecology, and conservation science, largely centred on odonates. He serves on the editorial boards of Insect Conservation and Diversity and the International Journal of Odonatology, he helps verify identifications on the Odonata Central citizen-science platform, and is currently hunting for odonates at groundwater seeps and springs.