Ecological condition and biodiversity value of urban riparian and non-riparian bushland environments: Ku-ring-gai, Sydney

The management, conservation and enhancement of biodiversity and ecological functioning within riparian bushland present significant challenges for many local councils, natural resource managers and agencies. The protection of bushland is particularly important in urban areas where much of the remnant bushland habitat lies along creek systems and is subject to ongoing and significant development pressure.This paper examines the terrestrial invertebrate biodiversity of bushland as an indicator of ecological condition within the Kuring- gai Local Government Area in north Sydney. The results reveal that riparian zones are significantly taxonomically richer than ‘upland’ non-riparian areas and that invertebrate assemblage structures are significantly different between these two habitat patch types. Fire was found to significantly influence the taxonomic structure of invertebrate communities, although further research is required to better understand this relationship. Habitats that had undergone bush regeneration were found to have significant variation in invertebrate faunal structure, particularly within riparian zones. While the results are considered preliminary, they do demonstrate the enhanced ecological value of riparian zones compared to non-riparian areas. The results presented herein are the first attempt to identify the specific ecological value of riparian zones compared to other remnant urban Sydney bushland habitats. The results provide invaluable ecological evidence that can be used to support the protection of riparian bushland patches from future urban development.