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St Helena Invertebrate Sites

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St Helena Invertebrate Sites Habitat Monitoring and Mapping Amy-Jayne Dutton St Helena National Trust DPLUS040 Securing the Future for St Helena’s endemic Invertebrates Habitats across St Helena St Helena has a number of habitats found nowhere else on earth (Cronk, 1989; Lambdon, 2012). In association with these, there is also a high diversity of endemic invertebrates. Few areas of endemic vegetation remain due to the impact of human settlers, goats, rabbits and other introduced species. Understanding the abundance, distribution, and diversity of remaining areas of endemic vegetation, along with the effectiveness of restoration areas at supporting native invertebrates, is crucial for the effective management of these sites and their associated fauna. Endemic vegetation includes Scrubwood Commidendrum rugosum (Vulnerable), St Helena Gumwood Commidendrum robustum (Critically Endangered), St Helena Dogwood Nesohedyotisarborea (Critically Endangered) and Whitewood Petrobium arboreum (Endangered). Scrubwood habitat is typically between 200m and 400m on the edges of the island, on the edges of St Helena. It is dry, with sparse vegetation; introduced species in these areas includes Wild Coffee (Chrysanthemoides monilifera), Lantana (Lantana camara) and Tungi (Opuntia elatior, O. ficus- indica). Generally small areas of this endemic vegetation can be found around the island, with a key stronghold on Blue Point. Gumwood habitat is typically mid altitude, ranging between dry and moist climates. Peak Dale is the largest stand of natural Gumwoods remaining, with other trees scattered around the island, including several individuals at Thompsons Wood 1.5km away. Forestry species such as Eucalyptus (E. grandis), Cape Yew (Afrocarpus falcata) and invasive non-natives including Whiteweed (Austroeupatorium inulifolium) and Wild Mango (Schinus terebinthifolius) surround and are invading this small area of native habitat. Cloud Forest habitat contains five endemic tree species, all of which are threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM with endemic ferns including Tree Fern (Dicksonia arborescens) also making up a significant portion of the native vegetation. Portions of cloud forest were removed for flax (Phormium tenax) which is now unmanaged on larger portions of land. Substantial portions of the Peaks are also covered in non-native species including Pheasant tail fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) and Whiteweed, with Fuchsia (F. coccinea) growing through and swamping areas of vegetation. Restoration attempts have so far focussed on vascular plant propagation. As part of the Darwin Plus project DPLUS040 sites of natural regeneration and restoration efforts for endemic plants were identified to map and assess for their invertebrate value. Key areas identified were: Peak Dale – natural endemic Gumwood site Millennium Forest – restoration Gumwood site Blue Point – natural and restoration Scrubwood site Pipe Path – natural Scrubwood site Flagstaff – natural Scrubwood site High Peak (Ginger Patch) – restoration cloud forest site Map 1. Sites identified for habitat mapping by DPLUS040 Originally it was planned to survey all individual endemic trees in Millennium Forest and other areas, this was not efficient or time effective and this output was changed to map and monitor these areas more broadly. Additionally, the need to map the habitats of St Helena was also recognised by SHG following the application for DPLUS040 and another Darwin Plus project (DPLUS052) undertook remote sensing as well as ground-truthing to map the entire island. Therefore the maps that follow are based on these (produced June 2018), with finer scale surveying needed to complement this and update this map. A summary of vegetation and some key invertebrate findings follows. Large areas of land across St Helena are the responsibility of St Helena Government (SHG), with native areas being overseen by its Environmental Management Division (EMD), with input from other organisations including the St Helena National Trust and St Helena Nature Conservation Group. Some areas belong to private land owners, being either privately managed or with permission granted for conservation efforts to be undertaken. As part of the Landscape and Environmental Mitigation Project (LEMP), areas of native vegetation were surveyed, with key habitat (Peak Dale and Blue Point) fenced as part of mitigation for the area lost by the airport construction. Extensive areas of new planting are also being undertaken, particularly along the Haul Road, which links with plantings at Millennium Forest. Monitoring across St Helena A basic habitat monitoring methodology was developed as part of the Community Forest project (Darwin Initiative Community Forests Project 005-020) and has been utilised here. Additional information has been gained by using the DPLUS052 method on the ground. Invertebrate monitoring Currently invertebrate surveys are ad hoc and there is no effective monitoring in place across the island for informing conservation efforts. Conservation efforts have most frequently focussed on improving habitat by increasing native and endemic plant presence, with invertebrate presence not being of primary importance. Methods should be put in place for basic monitoring, with consideration that specialists are needed for some species or groups. Invertebrate monitoring, along with vegetation surveys, will allow comparison of conservation efforts and their impacts on invertebrates. The surveys undertaken by DPLUS040 have provided invertebrate information for a number of areas, and results from these can be used to inform a monitoring methodology. Recommendations Numerous specimens have been collected as part of DPLUS040. Non-destructive monitoring methods should be utilised moving forward, with minimal specimens needing identification using the microscope to be collected. Outcomes of monitoring should be clearly defined and agreed with SHG to ensure that this is efficient, effective, and will provide suitable information to inform conservation efforts. This also includes sites. Selection of Sites Some of the sites identified in this document are areas where long-term monitoring through malaise traps was undertaken. In two of these sites the weather was too severe and malaise trap information is limited (BLUS and PIPE). Specialist entomologists Howard Mendel (Coleopterist) and Timm Karisch (Lepidopterist) also visited sites across the island, greatly increasing knowledge and understanding of the invertebrate usage of these sites. While the sites originally identified are clearly of value, from the evidence provided in the Invertebrate Report (Fowler et al. unpublished), it is obvious that areas of non-native vegetation can support native as well as non-native invertebrates. This requires further scrutiny to establish the degree to which species are truly habitat specific. Following this project (DPLUS040) it is clear that the spread of invertebrates across the island is not clearly defined by native and non-native habitats or any clear boundary. Therefore, although the sites identified by this project as of interest and value to potentially rare specialist invertebrates, consideration of other areas should also be made. It is recommended that areas of non-native habitat are identified for monitoring as well as native habitat, to assess usage by endemic invertebrates, as well as monitoring spread of non-native species. Following work from DPLUS040 recommended sites for monitoring are Peak Dale, Blue Point, Flagstaff, High Peak, the Peaks and Millennium Forest. Prosperous Bay Plain would also benefit from regular monitoring due to the rare and sensitive nature of this habitat. These are well established, accessible sites receiving conservation work and or representing areas where improvements for invertebrate conservation are feasible. Due to Signal Houses location on the other side of the airport, it is not practical to regularly monitor this site. While Pipe Path is an accessible area of Scrubwood, it may be of limited value to monitor, unless additional conservation efforts are also undertaken in or around this area. Additional sites should be considered which would represent areas where invasive species may spread to, act as points for detection of new species, or non-native areas to determine endemic invertebrate use of novel habitat types. Ruperts Valley, while barren, had several interesting invertebrate finds (Fowler et al., unpublished) and is also close to the location where container are unloaded. The Heart-shaped waterfall is another site close to human habitation, with numerous non-native species. Other sites should be informed by conservation priorities. Methods should be undertaken on a regular basis, with simple surveys undertaken biannual or annually. It has been suggested that moth trapping at a number of locations for a discrete period of time could be undertaken at less regular intervals (3-5 years) to provide sufficient data to assess changes in species assemblages and abundance. Methods Point monitoring o Hand searches o Observations o Sweep net o Light trapping (moths) Fixed point photography to assess changes o Original malaise trap locations provide a replicable location Summary of natural and conservation areas and their invertebrate value Map2. Peak Dale – Natural Gumwood site with new plantings This is the largest remaining site of naturally occurring Gumwood woodland. It has been fenced (by LEMP) to exclude livestock and encourage natural regeneration. It is not too far from other native vegetation
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