Linking survival rates with the vertical distribution of a lotic damselfly

In aquatic habitats, plants are valuable resources for insects because they provide various microhabitats for foraging, thermoregulation, roosting, and mating. Whether the vertical distribution of individuals across plants influences fitness components such as survival in wild populations is still not well understood. Here, we assess the effect of the vertical distribution of perching sites on the survival rate of a lotic damselfly <i>Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis</i> using daily capture-mark-recapture in Northeast Algeria. We used Cormack-Jolly-Seber models to estimate the survival rates and tested for the effect of intrinsic factors such as sex and body size and extrinsic factors such as the height of perching sites. We found a positive correlation between plant height and frequency of occupancy, suggesting that the tallest aquatic plants were the most frequently used. Recapture rate was higher in males (95%CI: 0.70 [0.61-0.77]) than in females (0.31[0.24-0.38]). Survival rate was slightly higher in males (0.76 [0.70-0.82]) than in females (0.68 [0.63-0.73]). Our model averaging estimates showed a negative effect of perching height on survival rate, revealing that individuals that tend to perch in higher strata had lower survival rates. This study highlights the importance of the structure of aquatic plants in riverbanks for the management and conservation of lotic wetlands.