[Odonata-l] Worldwide Dragonfly Association

[Dennis Paulson]

Dear Friends,

As students of nature with an abiding interest in and enthusiasm  
about dragonflies, you have undoubtedly told yourselves many times  
how fortunate we all are to have these wonderful insects available to  
enrich our professional and personal lives. I am writing to you to  
ask you to consider sharing this joy with like-minded people by  
joining the Worldwide Dragonfly Association. The WDA is now in its  
12th year and has grown over this time to be a vibrant and successful  
organization, always looking for new ways to encourage our science.  
Some of the advantages that membership offers are:

Biennial International Symposia give the opportunity to meet with  
fellow students of the Odonata and discuss our common interests in a  
relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Our Symposia so far have been held  
in the USA, Sweden, Australia, Spain, and Namibia. This year the  
Symposium is in Mexico (details at http://www.odonatology2009.org/)  
and the 2011 Symposium will be in Japan.

The Association’s operation is governed by a Constitution and By- 
Laws  (see http://ecoevo.uvigo.es/WDA/dragonfly.htm) and a Biennial  
General Meeting is held during each International Symposium. At the  
BGM members are able to make their views known to the democratically  
elected Board and vote on issues brought up by the Board.

The WDA publishes the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ODONATOLOGY twice a  
year on 1 April and 1 October. This journal has grown from strength  
to strength and is now in its 12th volume, with Volume 12 (2)  
appearing in October as a special issue dedicated to the memory of  
Philip Corbet. Recent numbers have featured numerous color photos.  
Among the many attractive features of IJO for the professional or  
amateur odonatologist are that the articles are wide-ranging, including:
-            faunistic studies, often of tropical regions that had  
been scarcely known;

-            descriptions of new genera and species, many more yet to  
come;

-            taxonomic studies elucidating how much we still have to  
learn about this very diverse and ancient group;

-            interactions between dragonflies and other insects,  
e.g., flies as odonate parasites and flies as odonate predators;

-            review articles about many features of odonate biology.

Recent articles have contrasted fliers and perchers; noted the  
effects of global climate change on the group; synthesized what we  
know of larval life histories; discussed the evolution of openwing vs  
closedwing perching in damselflies; and, in a 430-page special issue,  
assessed the global conservation status of the order.

Currently we have a very active committee exploring ways to improve  
the dissemination of work on Odonata, particularly ways in which we  
can incorporate electronic publishing into our journal. For more  
information please see http://ijo.tu-bs.de/home.html.

The Association’ Newsletter AGRION is published twice a year on 1  
January and 1 July and is freely available on the WDA website. It  
contains Association news along with articles of general interest on  
Odonata and is replete with full colour photographs. Please go to  
http://ecoevo.uvigo.es/WDA/dragonfly.htm to see AGRION.
The International Dragonfly Fund (IDF), in cooperation with the WDA,  
publishes ODONATOLOGICAL ABSTRACTS in June and July. All issues,  
beginning with the July 2000 issue, are posted on the WDA's website  
in password-protected form and are available only to members.


The Association provides grants for projects (including travel grants  
for young scientists to attend biennial Symposia) relating to (i)  
conservation of dragonflies or their habitats, and (ii)  
odonatological research.  These grants are administered by WDA's  
Conservation and Fund Committee (CFC).


Please go to the WDA’s website at http://ecoevo.uvigo.es/WDA/ 
dragonfly.htm for further information and for a membership  
application form. I hope that I shall soon have the opportunity of  
welcoming you to the Worldwide Dragonfly Association and seeing you  
at our meeting in Mexico.


With very best regards,


Gordon Pritchard

President, WDA

-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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