Trends in dragonfly occurrence in Belgium (Odonata)

Trends in dragonfly occurrence in Belgium (Odonata) The group ‘Gomphus’ collected 65 000 records of 69 species of Odonata, more or less equally scattered over Belgium. The best-investigated areas are the northern part and some river valleys in the south. Most hot spots can be found in the northeastern part, with a maximum of 48 species for 25 km². Remarkable is the fact that 50% of the species occurs in less than 7% of the 5 km grid cells (UTM). We determined trends in occurrence by comparing three periods: before 1950, 1950-1989 and 1990-2000. Four species show a clear decline over the three periods, eight species give evidence of a historical decline but survive on a limited number of sites and eight species also display a historical decline but have been increasing during the last decade. Six species show a (very) clear increase over the three periods and two species display their increase only during the last ten years.