Results So Far

Anax junius (Green Darner) the most widespread species on Mass Audubon sanctuaries

Species Richness:

• 138 species of odonates have been recorded on Mass Audubon sanctuaries. This compares with 166 species recorded in Massachusetts and 180+ in all of New England.
• Rutland Brook, Wachusett Meadow, and Arcadia have recorded the greatest species richness, 72, 71, and 64 respectively.
• 15 of the 36 species listed by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program as endangered, threatened, or of special concern have been recorded on Mass Audubon sanctuaries.
• Sanctuaries harboring the most state listed species are Arcadia (5), Ashumet (4), and Wachusett Meadow (4), Pierpont Meadow (3), Ipswich River (2), and Roads End (2).
• The third state record of Libellula axilena (Bar-winged Skimmer), recorded at Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary in Attleboro. This could be the first breeding record in Massachusetts.

Widespread Species

Some species are very widespread throughout our sanctuary system. The following occur on the most sanctuaries:

Comparison of our odonate lists with county lists

• 107 of the 126 species on the Worcester County checklist have been observed in our Worcester county sanctuaries.
• Recorded 22 of the 26 species known to occur on Nantucket on our Nantucket sanctuaries.
• Other counties with over 60% of the species in the county list are Hampshire, Plymouth, Dukes, and Barnstable counties.

What kinds of odonate species are under-represented on our sanctuaries?

Odonate species can be classified according to their habitat and geographic preferences. Some are generalists and can be found near just about any aquatic habitat throughout the state. Others prefer certain particular habitats or regions, such as cold streams, larger rivers, bogs, coastal plain ponds of southeastern MA and Cape Cod, salt marshes, or the more northern central and western sections of Massachusetts.

Coastal Plain Pond shore at Ashumet Wildlife Sanctuary, Mashpee.

Our sanctuaries contain most (90%) of the odes that are considered habitat generalists.

We have found 65% of species associated with flowing waters (rivers and streams) compared with 88% of those species associated with ponds and other still waters.

A high percentage of species associated with flowing waters are state listed, so it is not surprising that we have recorded a smaller percentage of this group compared to those of ponds.

	Ponds	Flowing Waters	General	All MA Species
MA List	112	40	16	168
Mass Audubon	99	26	14	138
% of state list	88%	65%	88%	82%

These results points to the particular importance of protecting rivers and cold water stream habitats, which harbor these often rare odonates, throughout the Commonwealth.

For more details of our results, contact rbuchsbaum@massaudubon.org. A project report is available for download (PPT 3.6 MB).

Next Steps

Our enthusiastic sanctuary staff and volunteers continue to provide us with new records. Over the next number of years we will continue to carry out quantitative surveys and sample new land acquisitions. Contact rbuchsbaum@massaudubon.org if you are interested in helping out.

Funding for this project was initially provided by: