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The importance of urban reserves for conserving beetle communities: a case study from New Zealand

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Abstract

Urban reserves provide a major opportunity for conservation of indigenous biodiversity in the heavily urbanised landscape of Waitakere City (Auckland), New Zealand. However, there is little documented information on what indigenous fauna survives in these reserves. Beetle (Coleoptera) communities associated with two small, isolated urban reserves and two sites in a larger forest area within the Waitakere Ranges were sampled using pitfall traps and analysed. A total of 887 beetles, from 23 families and 89 recognisable taxonomic units were caught. The urban reserves had a marked reduction in species richness and abundance of beetles compared with the sites within the larger forest areas. Various environmental factors influencing the distribution of beetles across the sites were investigated. The most important factors were size of fragment, local forest cover and soil moisture. ‘Common’ species (>5 specimens in the total dataset) found in the Waitakere Ranges and small urban reserves, were either endemic or indigenous to New Zealand. Therefore, even though these reserves may be isolated from a larger, more continuous forest tract, they have considerable potential as reservoirs of beetle diversity in highly modified landscapes and the contribution of urban reserves to the local sustainability of beetle assemblages emphasises the importance of maintaining ‘green’ areas in and around cities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Landcare Research, Private Bag 3127, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Corinne H. Watts

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  1. Corinne H. Watts
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  2. Marie-Claude Larivière
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Correspondence to Corinne H. Watts.

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Watts, C.H., Larivière, MC. The importance of urban reserves for conserving beetle communities: a case study from New Zealand. Journal of Insect Conservation 8, 47–58 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JICO.0000027504.92727.ab

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