Conservation and Biodiversity of Australian Insects

Lord Howe Island Phasmid, Dryococelus australis. Photo: S Humphreys

Until recently, most of the broader community conservation interests have ignored the role and importance of terrestrial invertebrates. In Australia insects make up 75% of the known species of animals with the majority of these unique to Australia. Despite this diversity and abundance, many species are known only from a name and a specimen. Our lack of knowledge about insect habitats and ecology is a major barrier to their conservation. Without this knowledge we are unaware if species are threatened with extinction from habitat destruction or other threatening processes. Many insect species may already have been lost without us becoming aware that they existed at all.

Currently 10 species of insects and one population of beetles are listed as endangered under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act, 1995.

They include:

Three butterflies - Bathurst Copper Butterfly Paralucia spinifera, Black Grass-dart Butterfly Ocybadistes knightorum and Laced Fritillary Butterfly Argyreus hyperbius
Two moths - Golden Sun Moth Synemon plana and Phyllodes imperialis
Two beetles - Nurus atlas and Nurus brevis
One dragonfly - Giant Dragonfly Petalura gigantea
One stick insect - Lord Howe Island Phasmid Dryococelus australis
One cockroach - Lord Howe Island wood-feeding cockroach Panesthia lata

Problems affecting insect conservation planning

Insects are often given a low priority in conservation planning and community support for several reasons. Two major problems are:

insects do not have the appeal or high profile of some other animals used to promote conservation and the community in general is less aware of their value
insects in general are perceived by some in the community as pests not worthy of conservation planning

In addition to these two problems, a process known as the 'taxonomic impediment' hampers further research of insects. The taxonomic impediment is the difference between the size of the insect fauna and the resources available to collect, describe and document that fauna. Basically, there are not enough scientists working on insect taxonomy to be able to accurately predict which species are threatened or in danger of being lost forever.

Another process known as sampling bias also affects the conservation planning process. All insect taxonomy is based on specimens gathered in the field, or bred from material gathered in the field. Sampling bias occurs when the specimens represented in a collection are from areas that are identical or within close proximity to each other. Typically these are localities close to cities, urban areas, roads, properties, picnic grounds or places where access is relatively easy. Over time the amount of data available for these sites increases out of proportion to the amount of data available for the entire landmass (eg Australia), leading to sampling bias. Thus for some insect species it cannot be determined if they are rare or endangered, or poorly collected because of sampling bias.

The future of insect conservation

We cannot afford to ignore the conservation of insects as they perform important and often vital functions in the environment. Examples of the important environmental roles insects perform are:

many ant species are responsible for nutrient cycling and aeration in the soil through tunnel construction and taking organic matter underground
termites recycle wood and cellulose while many species of flies help recycle decaying organic matter
most wasps are parasitic and help reduce the numbers of the pest species that they parasitise
insects are important food sources, not only for other insects, but also for birds, reptiles and mammals
insects act as pollinators for many species of plants
insect herbivores help structure vegetation communities
insects such as pollinators, parasites and predators provide important services to agriculture by increasing production of crops and reducing the impact of pests
insects help us better understand ecosystem processes and the evolution of the unique Australian biota

The importance and abundance of insects in the landscape means that they are particularly well suited for use as indicators of biodiversity, ecosystem health and landscape degradation. Indeed several different groups of insects have been proposed as indicators of ecosystem health and are used in biodiversity surveys.

At the Australian Museum, since the development of the Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Research (CBCR), insects have been used extensively in biodiversity surveys. They provide measures of endemicity (native to or confined to a certain region), species richness and species abundance in a variety of Australian terrestrial habitats. The research conducted by CBCR has enabled the prediction of areas known as 'hotspots'. These areas are considered to be of exceptional conservation importance.

For further information on CBCR's biodiversity surveys.

Conservation and Biodiversity of Australian Insects

Problems affecting insect conservation planning

The future of insect conservation

Insects navigation

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