Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) are some of the most charismatic insects with an amphibious lifecycle. Odonata of India is a peer-reviewed biodiversity platform that is designed to disseminate comprehensive information on the biology and identification of odonates, encourage their observation to study natural history, gather population and distributional data in a centralized database, and spread awareness about dragonfly conservation.
Image credits:
Paresh Churi
Year of Initiation:
2014
Project Coordinator:
Shantanu Joshi
E-mail Address:
Role in the project:
Founding editor
Institutional Affiliation:
Zoological Survey of India
Taxa:
Dragonflies, Damselflies, Odonata
Status:
Active
No. of participants:
100 - 500
Geographical spread of project:
ALL INDIA, Sikkim
Run through an umbrella platform:
Biodiversity Atlas - India
Purpose of the project:
(a) To help in understanding ecology and distribution of dragonflies and damselflies by providing a platform designed to aggregate, display and analyse peer-reviewed biodiversity data.
(b) To host taxon-specific information on identification and natural history.
Coordinating institution/organisation:
Indian Foundation for Butterflies and National Centre for Biological Science
Location of the coordinating institution/organisation(s):
Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Data availability:
Available upon request, without a fee
Participation in language other than English:
Yes
Appropriate age groups of participants:
All age groups
Citizen participation through:
Website
Why should people participate:
Odonata of India is a biodiversity informatics platform, homegrown, custom-made, and hosted in a national institution. The platform is dedicated solely to Indian odonates, and provides features that are designed keeping the end-user in mind. The website is also the most comprehensive image library of Indian Odonata.
Prior knowledge or expertise required:
No prior preparation or expertise is required, although prior experience will help contributors and users get more out of this platform. Thus, beginners as well as advanced naturalists, nature lovers, students and practicing scientists can participate in this project
Website: