“…Considering that ant diversity correlates with the diversity of many taxa (Agosti et al, ) and that the brown food web is tightly connected to the green food web (Zou, Thebault, Lacroix, & Barot, ), similar recoveries for other organisms are likely. The positive association between plot tree diversity and litter ant diversity indicates that diverse tree mixtures increase ant abundance and diversity, which may have far‐reaching consequences, for example by enhancing ant‐mediated ecosystem functions including nutrient cycling (Folgarait, ; Griffiths et al, ) and by stabilizing trophic interactions (Schuldt et al, ; Staab et al, ). As trees are actively planted in reforestation and plantation forestry (as in BEF experiments), our results suggest that diversifying tree mixtures in young forests can promote species diversity and positive diversity effects across trophic levels without reducing carbon stocks (Liu et al, ) or lowering potential future harvest (Huang, Chen, et al, ).…”