Assessment of the diversity and abundance of terrestrial mangrove arthropods in southern New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Abstract The diversity and abundance of arboreal and flying arthropods, in three mangrove patches along the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, was investigated to determine the degree of spatial variability in the assemblages among patches. Intercept traps and restricted canopy fogging were used to sample the communities at Minnamurra, Bonnievale and Kurnell. Twelve orders of arthropods were detected, incorporating 252 morphospecies. Abundance, species richness and species composition were very similar across all patches, the variation being much smaller than expected. These findings suggest that the composition of the arboreal and flying fauna associated with mangrove patches are very similar among patches, but preliminary results also showed that species composition could be highly variable within a patch.Variation between the trapping methods was large, as expected. Intercept trapping and restricted canopy fogging techniques were found to sample different suites of species and therefore complement each other well in sampling programs. Cumulative species curves differed between time periods but generally were flatter for intercept traps than for restricted canopy fogging. Results suggested, for a given level of effort, intercept traps caught a more representative sample of the species composition available to them.