Edible insects and management of country

Abstract

Some edible insects are well known in Australia because of their use by Indigenous people. Because of their cultural and economic importance, it follows that their conservation could form part of contemporary natural resource management (NRM) effort. Yet, when considered alongside other better known plant and animal resources, there is relatively little documented knowledge of these species, contemporary pressures and conservation management requirements. A major constraint to understanding the potential role of edible insects in land management is the correct identification of species according to both non-Indigenous and Indigenous classification systems. I suggest that an important first step would be to catalogue the edible species with knowledgeable Indigenous people and to establish a national reference voucher collection to understand and document their importance for Indigenous and broader NRM. © 2012 Ecological Society of Australia.