Abstract
Terrestrial invertebrates were surveyed from south coast heathland environments, Gull Rock and Waychinicup National Park. These study sites chosen from within these two regions consist of both healthy and Phytophthora cinnamomi infected vegetation. Phosphite was being aerially applied to parts of these sites as a preventative treatment for the further spread of Phytophthora dieback disease into healthy areas. The experiment aimed to sample terrestrial invertebrate communities using pitfall traps and a foliage beating technique in Phytophthora dieback affected areas and healthy areas and also before and after phosphite application to assess any potential non-target impacts. Invertebrates were identified and analaysed at ordinal level classification and Coleoptera (beetles) were sorted to morphospecies to assess impacts at a finer taxonomic level. Shannon-Wiener Index of Diversity, Sorenses Index of Similarity, Multi-dimesional Scaling, Multi-variate ANOVA and Univariate ANOV A were all used to decide whether there were any impacts of Phytophthora dieback and Phosphite Application of the invertebrates collected. Analysis revealed strong seasonal effects within data but no trends eluding to impact of Phytophthora dieback or Phosphite application.