Little Critters Toolkit Yarra Riverkeeper Association 3 Acknowledgment of Country The Yarra Riverkeeper Association acknowledges that the Yarra Catchment is the traditional land and waters of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin nation. We pay our respect to Elders who have cared for country since time began, to the Elders who are healing country today, and to the emerging Elders, who continue the journey of enriching culture. We acknowledge that the river now called the Yarra is traditionally known as the Birrarung and that name has never ceased to be the name of the river. 2 Photo | Anthony Despotellis Bugs are all around us. They contribute significantly to the health of ecosystems but are often discounted and forgotten about in the discussion and focus of our interest in the natural world around us. But, when you consider the ratio of bugs to humans being well over a billion to one, it’s pretty easy to understand that, while small in stature, these organisms have a huge impact on the world around us. This toolkit will help open the door to the world of critters running the show from behind the scenes. A better understanding of conservation and ecological health hinges on understanding life at all levels, doing the jobs we don’t even recognise yet. Introduction Photo | Andrew Allen Little Critters toolkit | YRKA 5 Insects, Bugs and Ecosystems Energy Bugs play a huge role in ecosystem balance Bugs are significant primary consumers in and maintenance. They fill a number of ecosystems, feeding on plant matter - the key roles in ecosystems, including energy producers - that have converted the Sun’s Tertiary .1% and nutrient cycling, pollination and pest energy into digestible energy through Consumers control. On top of all of this, many bugs photosynthesis. Bugs make up a large hold significance in different cultures proportion of the primary consumers (the around the world as food sources. second trophic level) and so are hugely important to the health of food webs Secondary 1% While we may not be able to observe as and the health of organisms that occupy Consumers many of the processes that bugs drive as higher trophic levels. At each trophic level easily as some of the larger scale interactions roughly 10% of the energy at the prior driven by vertebrate wildlife, the complex level will be carried on. Therefore, if the 10% web of ecological interactions that they health of lower trophic levels diminishes Primary control and contribute to are integral to the and populations of primary consumers Consumers function of ecosystems. Arthropods, which reduce, each subsequent trophic level has account for many of the bugs in this toolkit less consumable energy available. are the most diverse phylum of animals on In addition to the primary consumers, the planet, add to this that gastropods - also Producers represented in this toolkit - are another one bugs are predatory and act as regulators of the most diverse groups of organisms and over their herbivorous peers. This you can begin to understand why and how regulative measure helps to stop over 100% they are so entrenched in the function of consumption of producers (photosynthetic the world around us. plants) by herbivorous bugs. This then has the flow on effect of allowing enough plants to engage in photosynthesis to create sufficient energy to support the food web at its base. 6 Wildlife toolkit | YRKA 7 Biomass Nutrients Pollination No insects (Detritivores) Nutrient cycling is also an extremely Pollination is often talked about in terms important process that relies upon the of honey bees and the importance it existence and actions of our little friends. holds for agricultural systems. However, The sheer mass of bugs on the planet is pollination goes far beyond the farm testament to how many interactions that gate and is engaged in by many more they are having in the world around us. species than just our European visitors. Leaf Without the continual ingestion and Not only do ecosystems depend on breaking down of decaying matter that pollination by bugs but many species litter Soil bugs engage in, the nutrient cycling of plants have in fact coevolved with capacity of ecosystems would be greatly different species of particular bugs, reduced. Nutrient cycling by bugs occurs creating codependent relationships both through detritivorous consumption between species. It is for this reason of dead and decaying matter as well as that pollination and diversity in the bug through regular consumption of biomass world are so intricately linked. No one Biomass in an environment. species can pollinate everything and without sufficient biodiversity in buglife the biodiversity in plant life suffers. With insects (Detritivores) Leaf litter Soil 8 Wildlife toolkit | YRKA 9 Pest Control Culture Bugs also provide great benefits to Outside of their role in protecting and ecological balance (and to the economy) enhancing the health of the environment through pest control. When there is a and ecosystems, many bugs hold balance between the various types of positions of significance in cultures all bugs, the ecosystem receives the services around the world. Insects and other that it needs without being over taxed by bugs have been used for many years herbivorous bugs. by Aboriginal Australians as a food source but also as medicines, bait and Often species are able to become pest adornments. They have also been linked species because they are not regulated to proliferation of common language properly within the ecosystem which between first nations peoples. they are occupying. This is no different in the world of bugs. Natural ecosystems In addition to their practical uses, many regulate themselves through ecological bugs are also intertwined with cultural balances restricting and bolstering beliefs of first nation peoples around the relative abundance of different Australia and feature in many stories of species. For this reason, biodiversity the Aboriginal Dreaming. plays an important role in buglife. Without sufficient predator species in an ecosystem controlling the abundance of herbivorous bugs, the amount of plant life consumed by these organisms can become excessive to the point of degradation of the base energy source in a given ecosystem food web. 10 Wildlife toolkit | YRKA 11 Insects Common Name Scientific Name Bogong Moth Agrotis infusa Huntsman Spider Sparassidae family p14 Cabbage White Butterfly Pieris rapae Plague Soldier Beetle Chauliognathus lugubris European Wasp Vespula germanica Aurora Bluetail Ischnura aurora p16 C Shinning Cockroach Drymaplaneta communis Leopard Slug Limax maximus Bull Ant Myrmecia genus Southern Riffle Darner Notoaeshna sagittata p18 Transverse Ladybird Coccinella transversalis Common Garden Snail Cornu aspersum Blow Fly Lucilia cuprina Lesser Water Strider Veliidae microvelia p20 European Honey Bee Apis mellifera Diving Beetle Dytiscidae family Gallery of Wildlife Photo | Anthony Despotellis Little Critters toolkit | YRKA 13 Appearance Biography Appearance Biography Bogong moths are generally The Bogong moth holds indigenous Cabbage White Butterflies Believed to have originated in either dark in colour, usually cultural significance as a historical have white to pale grey Europe or Asia, the Cabbage White having a dark stripe on food source during the summer. wings with black tips and Butterfly has become very widely either wing leading to a light The Bogong migrates long distances two dark eye-spots on the spread across the globe. After it was spot. They generally have a during spring toward the Australian forewing and another single accidentally introduced to Australia, wingspan between 40-50mm Alps where they remain dormant in spot at the back wing, have it was found that the caterpillar and a body length between torpor over the summer and then small bodies and can have stage of this species had become a 25-35mm return to the lowlands during the wingspans of up to 50mm. pest to agricultural production. cooler months to mate. Bogong moths are an important food source to the critically endangered Mountain Pygmy Possum (Burramys parvus); however, due to their Photo recently recorded potential for Photo Donald Hobern arsenic accumulation there are Dirk Daniel Mann concerns about their interaction with Bogong Moth agricultural land. Cabbage White Butterfly Agrotis infusa Pieris rapae Butterflies taste with their feet! Native Introduced Appearance Biography Appearance Biography Huntsman spiders are Huntsman spiders are well known A small beetle whose head These little beetles are quite common often brown and grey in for their size and often being found and outer wings are dark throughout the yarra catchment and colour and have eight eyes inside the home. They get their green-black with a yellow- are often also found in backyards. orientated in two rows of name in homage to their speed orange underside as well They are not harmful to ecosystems four when tracking down prey. They are as a stipe of orange behind and in fact often act as biological generally not aggressive towards their head. They generally controls for a number of species humans although in some cases growing up to between such as aphids, grasshoppers and can inflict harm. Female huntsman 1.5-2cm. caterpillars that can be harmful to spiders can be particularly aggressive plants when they are able to feed when defending their eggs. without regulation. Photo Photo Survival.org Hopenfox Huntsman Spider Plague Soldier Beetle Sparassidae family Chauliognathus lugubris Native Native 14 Wildlife toolkit | YRKA 15 Appearance Biography Appearance Biography The male Aurora Bluetail The aurora bluetail is a species of The common shining The common shining cockroach and female look different, damselfly native to Australia. They are cockroach generally grow to may cause most of us to recoil in particularly in colour. The male predatory, carnivorous insects that several centimeters in length disgust; however, they are a native has a bright orange abdomen are particularly adept at preying on and have a shiny brown- insect to Australia, particularly within with a black tip highlighted other flying insects due to the flying black body with pale stripes the south-east.