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- Title
Lepidoptera conservation in urban environments: theory and practice.
- Authors
New, T. R.
- Abstract
Urbanisation represents one of the most intensive, globally pervasive and largely irreversible sets of changes to natural and other terrestrial and freshwater environments, in which many ecologically specialised species succumb to pressures from widespread and adaptable generalists, including invasive aliens. Direct habitat loss and degradation, leading to fragmentation and isolation of populations, demonstrates the importance of remnant natural vegetation or wetland, and the dependence of numerous taxa on manipulated 'green spaces' within urban areas. Insect assemblages, and many individual species, depend on the resources available in such enclaves, and their connectivity within the wider urban landscape. The conservation of selected Australian Lepidoptera species illustrates the practicalities of attempting to conserve individual ecological specialists within urban environments. Three contrasting species (the Eltham copper butterfly Paralucia pyrodiscus lucida; Richmond birdwing butterfly Ornithoptera richmondia; Golden sun-moth Synemon plana) represent different urban threat scenarios, contexts and needs. Each is a notable flagship species for urban conservation and the focus of continuing conservation effort. The programs are compared to suggest wider needs for conserving threatened insects within urban landscapes.
- Subjects
LEPIDOPTERA; URBAN ecology; INSECT conservation; FRAGMENTED landscapes; RICHMOND birdwing; DULL copper (Insect)
- Publication
Victorian Naturalist, 2016, Vol 133, Issue 5, p160
- ISSN
0042-5184
- Publication type
Article