The common blue damselfly is one of Britain's most abundant odonates, but its welfare depends on productive freshwater habitats threatened by pollution, drainage, and climate change.
Common blue damselfly welfare across their multi-year lifecycle depends on both aquatic and terrestrial habitat quality. Larvae in polluted or degraded water face reduced prey availability and physiological stress from poor oxygen levels. Adult damselflies that cannot find sufficient invertebrate prey cannot maintain the energy budget required for reproduction. Garden pond creation with aquatic vegetation is one of the most accessible wildlife welfare interventions available to householders - providing both breeding habitat and larval feeding sites for damselflies and their associated invertebrate community.