“…Traditionally, bioindicators have been used to assess ecosystem responses to environmental perturbation, often associated with human land use (Noss 1990, Spellerberg 1993, McKenzie et al 1995. For 20 years, for example, the Australian mining industry has used ant species richness and composition as indicators of restoration success (Majer et al 1984, Andersen 1997a, and these protocols have been exported to Brazil (Majer 1992) and South Africa (Majer and de Kock 1992). Patterns of ant species richness and composition at mine sites undergoing restoration have been shown to reflect recolonization by other invertebrate groups (Majer 1983, Andersen 1997a, as well as changes in soil microbial biomass (Andersen and Sparling 1997).…”