Lawes Michael J, Moore Anthony M, Andersen Alan N, Preece Noel D, Franklin Donald C
Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods Charles Darwin University Darwin NT Australia.
Department of Geography McGill University Montreal QC Canada.
Ecol Evol. 2017 Sep 12;7(20):8442-8455. doi: 10.1002/ece3.2992. eCollection 2017 Oct.
Ecosystem restoration can help reverse biodiversity loss, but whether faunal communities of forests undergoing restoration converge with those of primary forest over time remains contentious. There is a need to develop faunal indicators of restoration success that more comprehensively reflect changes in biodiversity and ecosystem function. Ants are an ecologically dominant faunal group and are widely advocated as ecological indicators. We examine ant species and functional group responses on a chronosequence of rainforest restoration in northern Australia, and develop a novel method for selecting and using indicator species. Four sampling techniques were used to survey ants at 48 sites, from grassland, through various ages (1-24 years) of restoration plantings, to mature forest. From principal components analysis of seven vegetation metrics, we derived a Forest Development Index (FDI) of vegetation change along the chronosequence. A novel Ant Forest Indicator Index (AFII), based on the occurrences of ten key indicator species associated with either grassland or mature forest, was used to assess ant community change with forest restoration. Grasslands and mature forests supported compositionally distinct ant communities at both species and functional levels. The AFII was strongly correlated with forest development (FDI). At forest restoration sites older than 5-10 years that had a relatively closed canopy, ant communities converged on those of mature rainforest, indicating a promising restoration trajectory for fauna as well as plants. Our findings reinforce the utility of ants as ecological indicators and emphasize the importance of restoration methods that achieve rapid closed-canopy conditions. The novel AFII assessed restoration status from diverse and patchily distributed species, closely tracking ant community succession using comprehensive species-level data. It has wide applicability for assessing forest restoration in a way that is relatively independent of sampling methodology and intensity, and without a need for new comparative data from reference sites.
生态系统恢复有助于扭转生物多样性丧失的局面，但随着时间的推移，正在进行恢复的森林动物群落是否会与原始森林的动物群落趋同，这一问题仍存在争议。有必要开发能够更全面反映生物多样性和生态系统功能变化的动物恢复成功指标。蚂蚁是生态上占主导地位的动物类群，被广泛倡导作为生态指标。我们研究了澳大利亚北部雨林恢复时间序列上蚂蚁物种和功能组的响应，并开发了一种选择和使用指示物种的新方法。我们使用四种采样技术在48个地点调查蚂蚁，这些地点从草地开始，经过不同年龄（1至24年）的恢复种植，再到成熟森林。通过对七个植被指标的主成分分析，我们得出了沿时间序列的植被变化森林发展指数（FDI）。一种基于与草地或成熟森林相关的十种关键指示物种出现情况的新型蚂蚁森林指示指数（AFII），被用于评估随着森林恢复蚂蚁群落的变化。草地和成熟森林在物种和功能层面都支持组成不同的蚂蚁群落。AFII与森林发展（FDI）密切相关。在树冠相对封闭、恢复时间超过5至10年的森林恢复地点，蚂蚁群落与成熟雨林的蚂蚁群落趋同，这表明动植物的恢复轨迹前景良好。我们的研究结果强化了蚂蚁作为生态指标的效用，并强调了实现快速封闭树冠条件的恢复方法的重要性。新型AFII从多样且分布零散的物种中评估恢复状态，利用全面的物种水平数据密切跟踪蚂蚁群落演替。它在评估森林恢复方面具有广泛的适用性，可以相对独立于采样方法和强度，并且无需来自参考地点的新的比较数据。
