The Little Things that Run the City How do Melbourne’s green spaces support insect biodiversity and promote ecosystem health? Luis Mata, Christopher D. Ives, Georgia E. Garrard, Ascelin Gordon, Anna Backstrom, Kate Cranney, Tessa R. Smith, Laura Stark, Daniel J. Bickel, Saul Cunningham, Amy K. Hahs, Dieter Hochuli, Mallik Malipatil, Melinda L Moir, Michaela Plein, Nick Porch, Linda Semeraro, Rachel Standish, Ken Walker, Peter A. Vesk, Kirsten Parris and Sarah A. Bekessy The Little Things that Run the City – How do Melbourne’s green spaces support insect biodiversity and promote ecosystem health? Report prepared for the City of Melbourne, November 2015 Coordinating authors Luis Mata Christopher D. Ives Georgia E. Garrard Ascelin Gordon Sarah Bekessy Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group Centre for Urban Research School of Global, Urban and Social Studies RMIT University 124 La Trobe Street Melbourne 3000 Contributing authors Anna Backstrom, Kate Cranney, Tessa R. Smith, Laura Stark, Daniel J. Bickel, Saul Cunningham, Amy K. Hahs, Dieter Hochuli, Mallik Malipatil, Melinda L Moir, Michaela Plein, Nick Porch, Linda Semeraro, Rachel Standish, Ken Walker, Peter A. Vesk and Kirsten Parris. Cover artwork by Kate Cranney ‘Melbourne in a Minute Scavenger’ (Ink and paper on paper, 2015) This artwork is a little tribute to a minute beetle. We found the brown minute scavenger beetle (Corticaria sp.) at so many survey plots for the Little Things that Run the City project that we dubbed the species ‘Old Faithful’. I’ve recreated the map of the City of Melbourne within the beetle’s body. Can you trace the outline of Port Phillip Bay? Can you recognise the shape of your suburb? Next time you’re walking in a park or garden in the City of Melbourne, keep a keen eye out for this ubiquitous little beetle. All photographs by Luis Mata unless otherwise stated. These Creative-Commons licensed photos are available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/dingilingi/. The final version of this report was finished the 20 of November 2015. Please cite as: The Little Things that Run the City – How do Melbourne’s green spaces support insect biodiversity and promote ecosystem health? (2015) Mata L, Ives CD, Garrard GE, Gordon A, Backstrom A, Cranney K, Smith TR, Stark L, Bickel DJ, Cunningham S, Hahs AK, Hochuli D, Malipatil M, Moir ML, Plein M, Porch N, Semeraro L, Standish R, Walker K, Vesk PA, Parris K, Bekessy SA. Report prepared for the City of Melbourne. Contributors Anna Backstrom Interdisciplinary Conservation Kate Cranney Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group, Centre for Urban Science Research Group, Centre for Urban Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia. Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia. [email protected] [email protected] Sarah A. Bekessy Interdisciplinary Conservation Saul Cunningham CSIRO, Box 1700, Canberra, Science Research Group, Centre for Urban ACT 2601, Australia Research, School of Global, Urban and Social [email protected] Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Georgia E. Garrard Interdisciplinary Conservation Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia. Science Research Group, Centre for Urban [email protected] Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Daniel J. Bickel Entomology, Australian Museum Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, 6 College Street, Sydney NSW 2010 Australia. Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia. [email protected] [email protected] Ascelin Gordon Interdisciplinary Conservation Mallik Malipatil Department of Economic Science Research Group, Centre for Urban Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources Research, School of Global, Urban and Social AgriBio, Centre for AgriBioscience, 5 Ring Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Road, La Trobe University, Bundoora VIC 3083, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia. Australia. [email protected] [email protected] Amy K. Hahs Australian Research Centre Luis Mata Interdisciplinary Conservation Science for Urban Ecology (ARCUE), Royal Botanic Research Group, Centre for Urban Research, Gardens Victoria, c/o School of BioSciences, The School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010. University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne 3000, [email protected] Victoria, Australia. Dieter Hochuli School of Biological Sciences, [email protected] The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Melinda L Moir School of Plant Biology, Australia. University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Hwy, [email protected] Crawley 6009, Western Australia, Australia Christopher D. Ives Faculty of Sustainability, [email protected] Leuphana University Lüneburg, Scharnhorststraße Kirsten Parris School of Ecosystem and Forest 1, Lüneburg 21335, Germany. Sciences, The University of Melbourne Burnley [email protected] Campus, 500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia. [email protected] Michaela Plein Centre of Excellence for Rachel Standish School of Veterinary and Life Environmental Decisions, School of BioSciences, Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Victoria, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia. Australia. [email protected] [email protected] Laura Stark Interdisciplinary Conservation Nick Porch School of Life and Environmental Science Research Group, Centre for Urban Sciences, Melbourne Burwood Campus, Deakin Research, School of Global, Urban and Social University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, 3125, Victoria, Australia. Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia. [email protected] [email protected] Linda Semeraro Department of Economic Peter A. Vesk School of BioSciences, University of Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Victoria, Australia. Biosciences Research Division, 5 Ring Road, La [email protected] Trobe University, Bundoora VIC 3083, Australia. Ken Walker Science Department, Museum [email protected] Victoria, 11 Nicholson St, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Tessa R. Smith Interdisciplinary Conservation Australia. Science Research Group, Centre for Urban [email protected] Research, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, 124 La Trobe Street, Melbourne 3000, Victoria, Australia. [email protected] Acknowledgements The Little Things that Run the City has been a truly collaborative project. First and foremost, we are grateful to the City of Melbourne for co-funding this project, and for their ongoing support and enthusiasm. We’d especially like to thank Ian Shears, Yvonne Lynch and Lingna Zhang from the Urban Ecology and Urban Forest Team. We are looking forward to continue working with you. We would also like to acknowledge the support of funding from RMIT University’s Strategic Projects in Urban Research (SPUR) Fund, the National Environmental Scientific Programme - Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub (NESP - CAUL) and the Australian Research Council - Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED). Thank you to the volunteer field assistants–namely Estíbaliz Palma, Michelle Freeman, David Duncan and Xavier Francoeur–who kindly join us in our search for insects. We are grateful to Jeff Shimeta, David Heathcote and Shannon Fernandes from RMIT University’s Applied Sciences Lab for providing the laboratory workspace and equipment necessary to undertake the insect sorting and identification phase of this project. A sincere thank you to Alan Andersen and Timothy New for generously providing help with species identification and advice on species biology and ecology. We are grateful to the many enthusiastic volunteers who identified insect species from photographs uploaded to BowerBird, the Museum Victoria’s citizen science website. Particular thanks to Ethan Beaver, Matt Campbell, Darren Carmen, Graeme Cocks, Tony Daley, Ken Harris, Daniel Heald, Martin Lagerwey, Leuba Ridgeway and Stephen Thorpe for their assistance. The Museum Victoria and the Entomological Society of Victoria contributed to the success of the 2014 Melbourne BioBlitz. Special thanks to Patrick Honan, who help us conduct the BioBlitz light trapping surveys. We’d also like to thank Chris Cole and Peter Symes from the Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG), for their support and on-ground assistance while undertaking fieldwork in the gardens. A sincere thank you to artist Linda Tegg, for allowing us to conduct insect surveys of your ‘Grasslands’ art installation at the State Library of Victoria (SLV). Thanks to John Delpratt, horticulturist from the University of Melbourne, and Linda Wheeler from the SLV, for facilitating our involvement. Finally, thank you Matthew Selinske from RMIT University’s Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group for proofing the final version of this report. Contents 1 The little frequently asked questions, 1 2 The little things that run the city, 5 3 Insect biodiversity of the City of Melbourne, 15 4 Urban green space sites, 37 5 Habitat types, 53 6 Insect orders, 67 7 Ecological interactions, 89 8 Ecological processes and ecosystem services, 99 9 Recommendations for management and practice, 105 References, 109 Appendix 1 Species data, 119 Appendix 2 Methodological approach, 183 Chapter 1 The little frequently asked questions