Revue d’Ecologie (Terre et Vie), Vol. 70 (3), 2015 : 248-260
248 THE ODONATA OF WADI ISSER (KABYLIA, ALGERIA): STATUS AND ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF THEIR DISTRIBUTION Djaouida BOUCHELOUCHE1, Ourida KHERBOUCHE-ABROUS1, Mohamed MEBARKI1, Abdeslem ARAB1 & Boudjéma SAMRAOUI2
1 Laboratory of Dynamics and Biodiversity, FSB, USTHB, LP 32 El Alia, Bab Ezzouar. Algiers-Algeria. E-mails : bouchelouche_ djaouida@ hotmail. com ; ouridakherbouche@ yahoo. fr ; mebmoh@ yahoo. fr ; abdeslama@ yahoo. fr
2
Laboratoire de Recherche et de Conservation des Zones Humides, University of Guelma, Algeria & Center of Excellence for Research in Biodiversity, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. E-mail : bsamraoui@ yahoo. fr
___ Odonata are intimately associated with wetlands and they present a challenging variety in life cycle patterns, a renewed source of wonder and fascination for biologists and naturalists alike (Grand & Boudot, 2007; Corbet & Brooks, 2008). They have become essential tools for the ecological evaluation of aquatic ecosystems and bio-monitoring of wetlands (Chovanec & Waringer, 2001; Steward & Downing, 2008). Pollution and other anthropogenic impacts negatively affect Odonata communities and reduce the biodiversity of wetlands (Clark & Samways, 1996). Thus, the potential of Odonata as bio-indicators is now widely accepted (Chovanec, 2000; Hofmann & Mason, 2005; Simaika & Samways, 2008; Arnaldo et al., 2010), and they are frequently used to monitor the ecological integrity of freshwater ecosystems (Oertli, 2008; Ferreras-Romero et al., 2009), to assess habitat restoration (Samways & Taylor, 2004), and to study the effects of global climate change (Ott, 2008). Odonata are also known to be key organisms in the functioning of aquatic communities (Corbet, 1999). In the Mediterranean area, dragonflies and damselflies constitute a main component of running waters, and they have also been used to evaluate the ecological state of local watersheds
