Ants in restoration ecology: Why, what's and the way forward

Abstract

Global changes call for more nature‐based solutions, especially in nature conservation involving ecological restoration. Current methods essentially based on civil engineering are both expensive and costly in non‐renewable energy consumption and pollution terms. The non‐sustainability of these techniques is leading to the direct use of certain species to restore degraded ecosystems. Ants, because of their central role in ecosystem functioning and their occurrence on almost all terrestrial ecosystems, are promising candidates for environmental monitoring and such ecological restoration projects. We provide here a narrative review of the ecological functions performed by ants, and we take stock of how ants are currently considered in passive and active restoration. We then propose a trait‐based approach to facilitate their use by practitioners in future restoration projects. We list and discuss both life‐history traits relevant for environmental monitoring and functional traits known to affect abiotic (physical and chemical soil properties) and biotic (plant and fauna communities) components.