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Diversity
Volume 13
Issue 4
10.3390/d13040148
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Article

Insects in the City: Does Remnant Native Habitat Influence Insect Order Distributions?

by
Mani Shrestha
1,2,3,*,
Jair E. Garcia
1,
Freya Thomas
4,
Scarlett R. Howard
5,
Justin H. J. Chua
1,
Thomas Tscheulin
6,
Alan Dorin
2,
Anders Nielsen
7 and
Adrian G. Dyer
1
1
Bio-Inspired Digital Sensing-Lab, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
2
Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3800, Australia
3
Disturbance Ecology, Bayreuth Center of Ecology and Environmental Research (BayCEER), University of Bayreuth, 95440 Bayreuth, Germany
4
Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
5
Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia
6
Laboratory of Biogeography and Ecology, Department of Geography, University of the Aegean University Hill, 81100 Mytilene, Greece
7
Division of Food Production and Society, Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, P.O. Box 115, NO-1431 Ås, Norway
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Diversity 2021, 13(4), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/d13040148
Submission received: 1 March 2021 / Revised: 27 March 2021 / Accepted: 27 March 2021 / Published: 30 March 2021
(This article belongs to the Collection Disturbance Ecology: A New Emerging Field in Basic/Applied Ecology and Conservation)
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Abstract

There is increasing interest in developing urban design principles that incorporate good ecological management. Research on understanding the distribution and role of beneficial pollinating insects, in particular, is changing our view of the ecological value of cities. With the rapid expansion of the built environment comes a need to understand how insects may be affected in extensive urban areas. We therefore investigated insect pollinator capture rates in a rapidly growing and densely urbanized city (Melbourne, Australia). We identified a remnant native habitat contained within the expansive urban boundary, and established study sites at two nearby populated urban areas. We employed standard pan trap sampling techniques to passively sample insect orders in the different environments. Our results show that, even though the types of taxonomic groups of insects captured are comparable between locations, important pollinators like bees and hoverflies were more frequently captured in the remnant native habitat. By contrast, beetles (Coleoptera) and butterflies/moths (Lepidoptera) were more frequently observed in the urban residential regions. Our results suggest that the maintenance of native habitat zones within cities is likely to be valuable for the conservation of bees and the ecosystem services they provide.
Keywords: habitat fragmentation; ecosystem health; insects; native plants; urban growth habitat fragmentation; ecosystem health; insects; native plants; urban growth

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MDPI and ACS Style

Shrestha, M.; Garcia, J.E.; Thomas, F.; Howard, S.R.; Chua, J.H.J.; Tscheulin, T.; Dorin, A.; Nielsen, A.; Dyer, A.G. Insects in the City: Does Remnant Native Habitat Influence Insect Order Distributions? Diversity 2021, 13, 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13040148

AMA Style

Shrestha M, Garcia JE, Thomas F, Howard SR, Chua JHJ, Tscheulin T, Dorin A, Nielsen A, Dyer AG. Insects in the City: Does Remnant Native Habitat Influence Insect Order Distributions? Diversity. 2021; 13(4):148. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13040148

Chicago/Turabian Style

Shrestha, Mani, Jair E. Garcia, Freya Thomas, Scarlett R. Howard, Justin H. J. Chua, Thomas Tscheulin, Alan Dorin, Anders Nielsen, and Adrian G. Dyer. 2021. "Insects in the City: Does Remnant Native Habitat Influence Insect Order Distributions?" Diversity 13, no. 4: 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13040148

APA Style

Shrestha, M., Garcia, J. E., Thomas, F., Howard, S. R., Chua, J. H. J., Tscheulin, T., Dorin, A., Nielsen, A., & Dyer, A. G. (2021). Insects in the City: Does Remnant Native Habitat Influence Insect Order Distributions? Diversity, 13(4), 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/d13040148

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