Newly published research by one of our a recent MSc graduates, Ashleigh Basel, revealed compelling information on the state of South African dragonflies in concert with biomes and ecotones. A paper from this study has been published in Diversity and Distributions, a Journal of Conservation Biogeography.

They modelled the distribution of 164 South African dragonfly species under current and projected scenarios. Their study explored possible environmental covariates regulating the compositional turnover of the South African dragonflies.

Through noteworthy analyses their findings identified mean annual temperature as the most important predictor of the compositional turnover. As well as compelling evidence suggesting that under different projected scenarios we can expect to see major shifts in South African biomes (climatic zones) as we know them. The magnitude of change will be abrupt and will be distinguished by the ecotones (biome boundaries) between them.