Australia’s varied grasslands have suffered massive losses and changes since European settlement, and those changes continue under increasingly intensive human pressures for development and agricultural production. The values of native grasslands for conservation of endemic native biodiversity, both flora and fauna, have led to strong interests in the protection of remaining fragments, especially near urban centres, and documentation of the insects and other inhabitants of grasslands spanning tropical to cool temperate parts of the country. Attention to conservation of grassland insects in Australia is relatively recent, but it is increasingly apparent that grasslands harbour many localised and ecologically specialised endemic species. Their conservation necessarily advances from very incomplete documentation, and draws heavily on lessons from the far better-documented grasslands elsewhere, most notably in the northern hemisphere, and undertaken over far longer periods. From those cases, and the extensive background to grassland management to harmonise conservation with production and amenity values through honing use of processes such as grazing, mowing and fire, the needs and priorities for Australia can become clearer, together with needs for grassland restoration at a variety of scales. This book is a broad overview of conservation needs of grassland insects in Australia, drawing on the background provided elsewhere in the world on the responses to disturbances, and the ecological importance, of some key insect groups (notably Orthoptera, Hemiptera and Lepidoptera) to suggest how insect conservation in native, pastoral and urban grasslands may be advanced. The substantial references given for each chapter facilitate entry for non-entomologist grassland managers and stewards to appreciate the diversity and importance of Australia’s grassland insects, their vulnerabilities to changes, and the possibilities for conserving them and the wider ecological roles in which they participate.

The first broad overview of conservation needs of Australia’s largely endemic freshwater insects, drawing on examples and information from many parts of the world to illustrate and develop needs and practical prospects for conservation in inland water environments. The wide variety of those environments in Australia and their diverse insect inhabitants – many of them highly localised and ecologically specialised and vulnerable - and threats to them is illustrated. Case histories demonstrate the different aspects of practical conservation management that may be possible in different contexts, and numerous references facilitate understanding by non-specialist readers and non-entomologist conservation managers and practitioners.

Losses of forests and their insect inhabitants are a major global conservation concern, spanning tropical and temperate forest regions throughout the world. This broad overview of Australian forest insect conservation draws on studies from many places to demonstrate the diversity and vulnerability of forest insects and how their conservation may be pursued through combinations of increased understanding, forest protection and silvicultural management in both natural and plantation forests. The relatively recent history of severe human disturbance to Australian forests ensures that reasonably natural forest patches remain and serve as ‘models’ for many forest categories. They are also refuges for many forest biota extirpated from the wider landscapes as forests are lost, and merit strenuous protection from further changes, and wider efforts to promote connectivity between otherwise isolated remnant patches. In parallel, the recent attention to improving forest insect conservation in harmony with insect pest management continues to benefit from perspectives generated from better-documented faunas elsewhere. Lessons from the northern hemisphere, in particular, have led to revelations of the ecological importance and vulnerability of many insect taxa in forests, together with clear evidence that ‘conservation can work’ in concert with wider forest uses. A brief outline of the variety of Australian tropical and temperate forests and woodlands, and of the multitude of endemic and, often, highly localised insects that depend on them highlights needs for conservation (both of single focal species and wider forest-dependent radiations and assemblages). The ways in which insects contribute to sustained ecological integrity of these complex ecosystems provide numerous opportunities for practical conservation.

Problems of insect enumeration and assessment of needs are addressed in the contexts of rapid and substantial losses and changes to all key Australian terrestrial and freshwater environments and promoting awarenesss of the importance of insects. Further definition of the insect fauna and its peculiarities can aid threat alleviation and practical management to protect and conserve this unique and largely endemic biodiversity. Written for the many environmental managers and naturalists who are not primarily entomologists, the ten chapters expand from considerations of insect decline and diversity to the unique features of the Australian fauna and its characterisation. Cases and examples from throughout the world illustrate the major needs, approaches and priorities to sustaining a poorly known, diverse and ecologically varied insect heritage of global significance.

The history of interest and practice in insect conservation is summarised and traced through contributions from many of the leaders in the discipline, to provide the first broad global account of how insects have become incorporated into considerations of conservation. The essays collectively cover the genesis and development of insect conservation, emphasising its strong foundation within the northern temperate regions and the contrasts with much of the rest of the world. Major present-day scenarios are discussed, together with possible developments and priorities in insect conservation for the future.

Insects do not live in isolation. They interact with the abiotic environment and are major components of the terrestrial and freshwater biotic milieus. They are crucial to so many ecosystem processes and are the warp and weft of all terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems that are not permanently frozen. This means that insect conservation is a two-way process: insects as the subjects of conservation, while also they are useful tools for conserving the environment. This book overviews strategic ways forward for insect conservation. It is a general view of what has worked and what has not for the maintenance of insect diversity across the world, as well as what might be the right approaches for the future.

These proceedings contain papers on insect conservation biology that are classified under 3 themes: (1) the current status of insect conservation, and major avenues for progress and hindrances (6 papers); (2) insects as model organisms in conservation biology (6 papers); and (3) future directions in insect conservation biology (6 papers).

A series of original papers and reviews dealing with the peculiarities of island insects and their conservation in many parts of the world. Contributions to this special issue of Journal of Insect Conservation range from biogeographical analyses and ecological features of island insects and their evolution to the variety of concerns for their wellbeing, and practical conservation through a variety of, sometimes novel, approaches. They provide a valuable and up-to-date resource for entomologists and conservation practitioners.