Ant and plant diversity respond differently to seed‐based prairie restoration

Abstract

Recovering biodiversity is a common goal of restoration, yet outcomes for animal communities are highly variable. A major reason for this variability may be that active restoration efforts typically target plant communities, with the assumption that animal communities will passively recover in turn. However, this assumption remains largely unvalidated experimentally making it unclear how plant-focused restoration strategies influence animal communities. We evaluated how the diversity of seed mixes used to restore tallgrass prairies (a common plant-focused technique) influenced the recovery of ant community diversity and composition. Our study took place within a large-scale restoration experiment in southwest Michigan, where 12 former agricultural fields are being restored to tallgrass prairie by sowing seeds of prairie plant species native to our region. Half of each field was seeded with 12 prairie species and the other half with 72 prairie species. Sites restored with high diversity seed mixes increased plant species richness, but did not consistently influence ant richness or community composition. Instead, ant species richness and composition were related to an interaction between realized plant species richness (which was only partly structured by seeding treatments) and environmental structure. Specifically, ant richness increased more with higher realized plant richness when vegetation cover was lower and soil-surface temperatures were higher. Our findings illustrate how plant and animal communities can respond differently to plant-focused restoration efforts. Despite this, plant community restoration can structure animal community responses, in concert with environmental factors. Layering additional restoration strategies onto existing plant-focused approaches may further benefit biodiversity across taxa.

Seed mix design and floral resources drive multitrophic interactions in prairie restoration

“…Contrary to our expectations, we did not find a clear effect of seed mix richness or admixture seed sourcing on floral species richness. Previous research has found that seed mix richness increased plant diversity (Larson et al., 2011), but responses can be highly variable (Paraskevopoulos et al., 2022). Although many of the target species in the seed mixes established, we observed high numbers of unsown species in the prairies, and these may have swamped out differences in sown seed richness.…”

Spatial targeting of woodland creation can reduce the colonisation credit of woodland plants

“…In this case further management interventions may be needed, these could take the form of translocations or seeding. These interventions have been shown to increase the establishment of native plant species in restored sites (Orrock et al, 2023), and have also been shown to influence the structure of non‐plant species communities (Paraskevopoulos et al, 2023).…”

Temperature‐driven homogenization of an ant community over 60 years in a montane ecosystem

“…Forested and open habitats tend to have strongly differing ant communities (Andersen, 1997(Andersen, , 2019Lassau & Hochuli, 2004;Resasco & Fletcher, 2021), which we see represented in the differences between the north-and south-facing slope assemblages. Horizontal vegetation cover has been shown to have a negative relationship with ant species richness (Lubertazzi & Tschinkel, 2003;Muluvhahothe et al, 2021;Paraskevopoulos et al, 2023). However, vegetation cover may explain the increased site occurrence of common generalist species (Retana & Cerd a, 2000).…”