With the green cover in Goa, the state is a home to various different species, from the tiniest insects to the majestic animals. One of the smaller known species is the rapidly moving dragonfly. With the different species of dragonflies identified in the state, there are still more yet to be documented. Putting the focus on the dragonfly is the WWF-India’s Dragonfly Festival which is a unique Citizen Science campaign to highlight the importance and status of dragonflies and damselflies in India.
Aditya Kakodkar, state coordinator of WWF-India Goa informs, “WWF-India’s Dragonfly Festival is being conducted in 13 states across India. As part of Dragonfly Festival in Goa, two important wetlands, namely Carambolim Lake in Tiswadi taluka and Nanda Lake in Quepem taluka are chosen. Nanda Lake is the first Ramsar wetland in Goa. Volunteers have opted to be part of the surveys. An expert in odonate identification, who will review the identification and field data collection, accompanies volunteers. The survey will continue for three months, from September to November 2024. Collected data will be uploaded to the India Biodiversity Portal.”
Dragonflies and damselflies are bio-indicator insects. They are considered important for gauging the health of a wetland or a water body. Dragonflies have a unique lifecycle, where half of the life stages are dependent on water. The eggs are laid in the water, the larva hatches out of the egg and then lives in the water. The larva then transforms into a nymph, which hunts prey in the water to survive. An adult dragonfly emerges from the nymph on the edge of the water and then flies off.
“A healthy population of dragonflies signifies good health of a wetland, it indicates a good amount of dissolved oxygen in the water and low turbidity which would allow dragonfly larvae and nymphs to thrive. Hence, it saves a huge amount of time and resources, which would be normally required to gauge the health of the wetland by water testing or other methods. Dragonflies in during their lifecycle feed on aquatic insects including mosquito larvae and help control mosquito borne diseases like Malaria, Dengue and Chikungunya,” adds Aditya.
The first talk on the diversity of dragonflies in Goa by Parag Rangnekar will be held on October 9 at the WWF-India Goa state office at Miramar at 4.30 pm, which is open to all. Parag has been studying dragonflies and damselflies, collectively called Odonates since 2008, initially only photographing and identifying and later getting into taxonomic work that included collection, preservation and studying under the microscope.
“There are 200 species of dragonflies identified in South India. Besides the documented dragonflies in Goa, there will be still more which are not identified in Goa. We need more people on the ground to look at lesser faunas like insects and frogs as most people focus on birds and bigger animals. With volunteers especially youth start looking at them on regular basis it will be beneficial in terms of the given data will tell the trend of the population going up or down or which species flourish in which season. Dragonflies are a bio-indicator species which indicates the presence of absence of the health of the ecosystem which is the water bodies. Dragonflies are very sensitive to movements and the volunteers will be trained through this session on how to identify the dragonflies on the field. I will also help them overcome difficulties that they may face while on their surveys in the coming months,” says Parag.
In addition to the surveys, as part of the Dragonfly festival 2024, talks on dragonfly identification, competitions for school children and other awareness activities will be conducted across Goa, to help conservation of dragonflies. The young volunteers who are higher secondary school and college students are enthusiastic to be part of this initiative. These two lakes are great venues to spot these beautiful creatures.