Conserving native insect communities: Insights from management projects in the Waianae Mountains of Oahu, Hawaii

It is not always obvious which conservation actions will most effectively maximize the retention or recovery of species diversity in native insect communities. Insect populations are strongly influenced by both bottom-up and top-down trophic forces, in addition to other constraints. Various management strategies that enhance resources or suppress invasive predators may therefore benefit large numbers of insect species. I discuss the relative roles of invasive predators (rats, ants) and native plant restoration in influencing insect abundance, diversity and trophic structure in mesic montane forests of Oahu. These community-level attributes also have the potential to exert wider food web impacts.