At present, research in the Terrestrial environments is mainly restricted to the invertebrate fauna only, with the exception of the DNA work in Herpetology (See Molecular Systematics). Although the terrestrial environments department holds collections of myriapods and arachnids as well as insects, its research focus is centred on the insect fauna.
Research conducted falls into two categories. One is focussed on the taxonomy, systematics and ecology of various invertebrate groups in south-eastern Australia. In particular, the groups receiving our attention include the native bee fauna as well as population and community ecology of ground dwelling invertebrates or aquatic insects from rivers and streams.
The second focus is on community ecology. Most of the studies of community ecology have been motivated by a desire to find out how such communities respond to man-made disturbances. As a result particular habitats have been surveyed with the aim of identifying the types of invertebrate community present and whether spatial patterns in these communities can be related to environmental factors.
These studies have resulted in large collections of freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates, which are gradually being incorporated into the general invertebrate and entomological collections. Many of the taxa collected are poorly known taxonomically and will provide a large collection of material for future systematic research.
This collection can also be looked on as a 'biodiversity time capsule', whereby in the future specimens can be re-examined in the light of greater systematic and ecological knowledge.