Measuring ecosystem recovery: diversity and abundance of invertebrates in ten Port Hills reserves, Canterbury

Abstract

The Port Hills Rangers (Greenspace Unit, Christchurch City Council) in conjunction with Environment Canterbury is establishing mammalian predator control at several reserves on the Port Hills of Canterbury. Vegetation, birds and invertebrates are being monitored to determine what effect predator control may have on them. This study, combined with the 2003 survey (Bowie & Sirvid, 2004), will provide baseline invertebrate data for comparisons in future years to enable the effects of ecological restoration through pest management to be measured. This work reports on the invertebrate abundance and diversity of ten reserves on the Port Hills using these two sampling methods; and discusses possible effects of predator control.