Arthropod fauna of jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata) foliage in Mediterranean forest of Western Australia: Spatial and temporal variation in abundance, biomass, guild structure and species composition

Abstract

Abstract A 2 year study (using a branch‐clipping technique) of the arthropod fauna of jarrah crowns (14 m above ground level) in a 7500km2 area centred on Manjimup, Western Australia, yielded 7461 individuals belonging to 396 species. Lepidoptera, Hemiptera and Araneae dominated the fauna in abundance and biomass but Lepidoptera less so in number of species. Consequently, leaf chewers, sapsuckers and predators were the dominant guilds. Most species showed great spatial and temporal variation in their occurrence, with some 73% being recorded on only one or two of the nine sampling occasions. In addition 77% of species were recorded on four or fewer of the 45 trees sampled. Crowns of these trees tended to have highly dissimilar assemblages of arthropods. Dissimilarity between trees was not predictable from the distance between them. Total species richness was greatest in samples collected in summer. Predators and sapsuckers tended to be the most speciose guilds. Within‐stand differences were much less pronounced than between‐stand differences: ants were more abundant on jarrah foliage within 2 m of ground level and the pest defoliator Uraba lugens (Lepidoptera, Noc‐tuidae) was more abundant on foliage of jarrah pole crowns 14 m above ground. The most abundant arthropod, U. lugens, did not reduce appreciably the biomass or abundance of other arthropod groups present in jarrah pole crowns. This is consistent with the paradigm that competition between species of herbivorous insects is infrequent. After comparison with other studies in jarrah forest, we tentatively conclude that there is no single fixed pattern of organization or predictable assemblage of invertebrates on jarrah foliage.