Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115;
Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Feb 2;118(5). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2015421118.
A primary goal of ecological restoration is to increase biodiversity in degraded ecosystems. However, the success of restoration ecology is often assessed by measuring the response of a single functional group or trophic level to restoration, without considering how restoration affects multitrophic interactions that shape biodiversity. An ecosystem-wide approach to restoration is therefore necessary to understand whether animal responses to restoration, such as changes in biodiversity, are facilitated by changes in plant communities (plant-driven effects) or disturbance and succession resulting from restoration activities (management-driven effects). Furthermore, most restoration ecology studies focus on how restoration alters taxonomic diversity, while less attention is paid to the response of functional and phylogenetic diversity in restored ecosystems. Here, we compared the strength of plant-driven and management-driven effects of restoration on four animal communities (ground beetles, dung beetles, snakes, and small mammals) in a chronosequence of restored tallgrass prairie, where sites varied in management history (prescribed fire and bison reintroduction). Our analyses indicate that management-driven effects on animal communities were six-times stronger than effects mediated through changes in plant biodiversity. Additionally, we demonstrate that restoration can simultaneously have positive and negative effects on biodiversity through different pathways, which may help reconcile variation in restoration outcomes. Furthermore, animal taxonomic and phylogenetic diversity responded differently to restoration, suggesting that restoration plans might benefit from considering multiple dimensions of animal biodiversity. We conclude that metrics of plant diversity alone may not be adequate to assess the success of restoration in reassembling functional ecosystems.
生态恢复的主要目标是增加退化生态系统的生物多样性。然而，恢复生态学的成功通常通过测量单个功能群或营养级对恢复的响应来评估，而不考虑恢复如何影响塑造生物多样性的多营养级相互作用。因此，需要采用生态系统范围的方法来理解动物对恢复的响应（如生物多样性的变化）是否是由植物群落的变化（植物驱动效应）或由恢复活动引起的干扰和演替（管理驱动效应）所促进的。此外，大多数恢复生态学研究侧重于恢复如何改变分类多样性，而对恢复生态系统中功能和系统发育多样性的响应关注较少。在这里，我们比较了植物驱动和管理驱动效应对恢复后长草草原时间序列中四个动物群落（地面甲虫、蜣螂、蛇和小型哺乳动物）的影响，这些地点的管理历史（规定的火灾和野牛重新引入）不同。我们的分析表明，管理驱动对动物群落的影响是通过植物生物多样性变化介导的影响的六倍。此外，我们证明恢复可以通过不同途径同时对生物多样性产生积极和消极的影响，这可能有助于协调恢复结果的变化。此外，动物分类和系统发育多样性对恢复的响应不同，这表明恢复计划可能受益于考虑动物生物多样性的多个维度。我们的结论是，仅使用植物多样性指标可能不足以评估恢复在重新组装功能生态系统方面的成功。
