Conserving invertebrate diversity in agricultural, forestry and natural ecosystems in Australia

Continental Australia and Tasmania cover a wide range of latitudes from tropical regions in the north through the arid and semi-arid core to cool temperature regions further south. Vegetation is equally varied and because of this and the continent's isolation during the Tertiary, floral and faunal diversity and endemism are very high. Europeans arrived 200 years ago and since that time have markedly modified the landscape by clearing and changing the vegetation, predominantly for agricultural and urban development. Both accidental and deliberate introductions of stock, weeds, crops, trees and pasture plants have also caused enormous changes to Australian environments. In the last few years the deleterious effects of some of these changes have been relaised, for example the extent of soil degradation. Measures are being taken to rectify problems and techniques are being introduced which benefit both primary producers and other users of the land and also nature conservation. Some of these measures for a more sustainable use of the land are illustrated here for four vegetation types, eucalypt woodland, native forests, grasslands and arid systems. They include adopting native tree species for timber production and native grasses for pasture, retention of native vegetation and paying attention to conservation of invertebrates in Parks and Reserves.