We undertake a range of projects with specific implications for management of the natural environment. We have focused on issues relating to biodiversity in urban bushland in the Sydney region and how the diverse range of anthropogenic impacts in these areas can be ameliorated. Frustrated by the lack of consideration given to "the other 99%", "the little things that run the world", and less visible fauna, our work focuses on insects.

Sydney is Australia's biggest and oldest city and its natural areas have been subjected to a pervasive suite of human pressures. Current and past projects include: - Assessments of the effects of urbanisation and habitat fragmentation on terrestrial invertebrates - Effects of roads on terrestrial invertebrates and small mammals - Restoration of outcrops where bush rock has been removed - Dieback of Eucalyptus botryoides in urban remnants with a special emphasis on the effects of insect herbivores on tree health in these remnants - Invertebrates associated with threatened ecological communities in N.S.W.

The work on insect-plant interactions has been extended to examine a range of management related questions, including invertebrate responses to grazing and fertiliser in native grasslands and how fundamental ecological processes (herbivory and parasitism in particular) may be affected by historical and ongoing human modification of these habitats.

The rock outcrops have been subject to considerable pressure from bush rock collectors, leading to concern over fauna that are specialised and restricted to this habitat. A project examining faunal colonisation and succession of artificial habitat in these habitats has been undertaken with a view to guiding their restoration.

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