Kitching Research Group, Griffith University
Border Ranges
Overview
The Kitching Research Group has, over many years, studied the biodiversity of the Border Ranges focussing principally but not exclusively on arthropods. Most recently in both Lamington and Border Ranges NP we have established permanent transects with baseline information across a 1000m altitude. This has allowed us to study the likely impacts of predicted climate change on biodiversity. We have identified strong altitudinal signals in data from a wide range of insect taxa. Our transect at Lamington (West Canungra Ck catchment) is best studied thanks to the Investigating the Biodiversity of Soil and Canopy Arthropods (IBISCA) Queensland project which brought specialists from around the world to study the fauna along the 300-1200m altitudinal transect.
What we do
Surveys 2006-2010 as part of the ‘Investigating the Biodiversity of Soil and Canopy Arthropods’ (IBISCA) Queensland Project, 20 permanent plots established in West Canungra Creek Catchment.
Current surveys in Border Ranges NP (Septation Creek Catchment), 2010–
Much previous work on hebivory, pollination, canopies, etc principally in green Mountains Section of Lamington NP.
What we have achieved
BEAULIEU, F., WALTER, D. W., PROCTOR, H. C. & KITCHIING, R. L. (In press) The canopy starts at 0,5m: predatory mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) differ between forest floor soil and suspended soil at any height. Biotropica
KITCHING, R. L., BOULTER, S. L., VICKERMAN, G., LAIDLAW, M. , HURLEY, K. L. & GRIMBACHER, P. L. (2005) The Comparative Assessment of Arthropod and Tree Biodiversity in Old-World Rainforests: The Rainforest CRC/Earthwatch Protocol Manual, 2nd Edition Revised. Rainforest CRC, Cairns, 80 pp.
MENZEL, F. & KITCHING, R. L. (2004) Host specificity or habitat structure? The epicortical beetle assemblages in Australian subtropical rainforest. European journal of Entomology 101, 251-259.
KITCHING, R. L., HURLEY, K. L. & THALIB, L. (2003) Tree relatedness and the similarity of insect assemblages: pushing the limits? In: (Basset, Y. et al. eds) Arthropods of Tropical Forests: Spatio-temporal Dynamics and Resource Use in the Canopy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 329-340.
KITCHING, R. L. , BERGELSON, J., LOWMAN, M. D. , McINTYRE, S. & CARRUTHERS, G. (1993) The biodiversity of arthropods in Australian rain forest canopies: introduction, methods, study sites and ordinal results. Australian Journal of Ecology 18, 181-191.
AND MANY MORE!
Contact
Kitching Research Group
Tel: 07 3735 7491
Email:
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Web: www.griffith.edu.au
