Species and functional trait re-assembly of ground beetle communities in restored grasslands

Barber, Nicholas A.; Lamagdeleine-Dent, Katie A.; Willand, Jason E.; Jones, Holly P.; McCravy, Kenneth W.

doi:10.1007/s10531-017-1417-6

Cited by 37 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…160 ha of remnant prairie and has grown nearly 10‐fold (to 1,457 ha) largely through the conversion of row‐crop agriculture to restored tallgrass prairie (https://www.nachusagrasslands.org/). Grassland restoration has occurred in >80 units and includes seeding with locally collected seed, prescribed fire on a 1–3‐year rotation, and exotic weed control (Willand et al ; Hansen & Gibson ; Barber et al 2017 a ). Additionally, grazing by a herd of American Bison ( Bison bison ) has occurred in portions of Nachusa Grasslands since 2015.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…49% prairie, 20% savanna, 14% forest, 2% wetland, and 14% cropland (J. Vecchiet 2019, Northern Illinois University, personal communication). In parallel to Barber et al (2017 a ) and Griffin et al (), snake occupancy and abundance were quantified across a chronosequence of 12 restored units assessed by site managers as “successful” based on establishment of diverse native plant species and few exotic species. Units were roughly rectangular in shape, varied in year of restoration from 1988 to 2012 (one unit, restored in 2012, was not monitored until 2014), and ranged in size from 6 to 28 ha (Table ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Nature Conservancy's Nachusa Grasslands (https://www.nachusagrasslands.org/), a large‐scale tallgrass prairie restoration in northern Illinois, serves as a laboratory for investigations of created‐habitat restoration‐related processes (Willand et al ; Hansen & Gibson ; Wodika et al ; Wodika & Baer ; Griffin et al ; Klopf et al ; Barber et al 2017 a , 2017 b , in press; Burke et al ). Among Nachusa Grasslands attributes is that it provides a chronosequence of restoration units dating from 1988 to the present.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Restricted movement may limit colonization of restored grasslands by many animals (Barber et al 2017 a ), including snakes. Often, movement distances of terrestrial vertebrates increase with increasing body size (Sutherland et al ; Perry & Garland ; Jenkins et al ), resulting in higher colonization rates by larger than smaller taxa (Hoekstra & Fagan ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animal responses to grassland restoration are often characterized using community metrics such as species richness, species diversity, and functional diversity. These metrics show varying patterns in relation to time since restoration (Wodika & Baer ; van Noordwijk et al ; Barber et al 2017 a ), sometimes paralleling plant community metrics (Sluis ; Hansen & Gibson ). Because snake species are few, we characterize snake responses to grassland restoration using probability of occupancy, a species‐level metric of occurrence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Responses of grassland snakes to tallgrass prairie restoration

King

Vanek

2020

Restoration Ecology

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Understanding faunal responses to habitat restoration is important in assessing restoration success. We investigated occupancy and abundance of snakes at Nachusa Grasslands, a large-scale grassland restoration in the midwestern United States. Using artificial cover objects, we sampled within a chronosequence of 12 units converted from row-crop agriculture 2-25 years before the start of our study. Recaptures of marked snakes revealed that movement distances differed among species in accordance with differences in body size, being least in Dekay's Brownsnakes, intermediate in the Plains Gartersnakes and Common Gartersnakes, and greatest in Eastern Foxsnakes. Consistent with this result, occupancy increased with restoration age in Dekay's Brownsnakes but was unrelated to restoration age in the three larger, more mobile species. Similarly, abundance increased with restoration age in Dekay's Brownsnake but was unrelated to restoration age in other species. The Smooth Greensnake, another small-bodied snake with limited mobility, and an Illinois species of greatest conservation need, was not detected at Nachusa Grasslands. Given detection probabilities observed during a parallel study at a nearby large grassland-dominated preserve, we infer that the Smooth Greensnake is truly absent from Nachusa Grasslands. Taken together, our results demonstrate that establishment of faunal components following restoration may be time-dependent with more sedentary species colonizing only slowly (e.g. Dekay's Brownsnakes) or not at all (e.g. Smooth Greensnakes). These results emphasize the need to clearly identify faunal restoration goals and the means to achieve them. Implications for Practice• As higher order predators within grassland ecosystems, snakes provide a meaningful faunal component by which to measure restoration success.• Larger, more mobile snake species are able to occupy grassland restorations soon after conversion from rowcrop agriculture but occupancy by smaller, less mobile species may occur more slowly if at all.• Some grassland snakes may require active management to promote establishment following restoration.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Responses of grassland snakes to tallgrass prairie restoration

King

Vanek

2020

Restoration Ecology

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Reintroduced grazers and prescribed fire effects on beetle assemblage structure and function in restored grasslands

Nelson

Hosler

Boetzl

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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Ecological restoration seeks to reestablish functioning ecosystems, but planning and evaluation often focus on taxonomic community structure and neglect consumers and their functional roles. The functional trait composition of insect assemblages, which make up the majority of animal diversity in many systems, can reveal how they are affected by restoration management and the consequences for ecosystem function. We sampled ground beetle (Coleoptera: Carabidae) assemblages in restored tallgrass prairies varying in management with prescribed fire and reintroduced American bison (Bison bison) to describe their taxonomic and functional trait structure. We also measured seed and arthropod predation to relate management, beetle assemblage characteristics, and function, and to test if function is maximized by trait diversity, dominant trait values, or beetle abundance. Beetle assemblages primarily varied with restoration age, declining over time in richness and both taxonomic and functional diversity, but bison presence also influenced taxonomic composition. Prescribed fire reduced seed predation in summer and arthropod predation in fall. Although seed predation was unrelated to beetle assemblages, arthropod predation was greater in sites with higher abundances of carnivorous ground beetles. The relatively weak impacts of fire and bison on functional assemblage structure is a promising sign that these management disturbances, aimed at supporting a diverse native plant community, are not detrimental to beetle assemblages. The significance of reduced predator function following prescribed fire will depend on the restoration context and whether seed or arthropod predation relates to management goals.

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Rapid ant community reassembly in a Neotropical forest: Recovery dynamics and land‐use legacy

Hoenle

Argoti

Staab

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Regrowing secondary forests dominate tropical regions today, and a mechanistic understanding of their recovery dynamics provides important insights for conservation. In particular, land‐use legacy effects on the fauna have rarely been investigated. One of the most ecologically dominant and functionally important animal groups in tropical forests are the ants. Here, we investigated the recovery of ant communities in a forest–agricultural habitat mosaic in the Ecuadorian Chocó region. We used a replicated chronosequence of previously used cacao plantations and pastures with 1–34 years of regeneration time to study the recovery dynamics of species communities and functional diversity across the two land‐use legacies. We compared two independent components of responses on these community properties: resistance, which is measured as the proportion of an initial property that remains following the disturbance; and resilience, which is the rate of recovery relative to its loss. We found that compositional and trait structure similarity to old‐growth forest communities increased with regeneration age, whereas ant species richness remained always at a high level along the chronosequence. Land‐use legacies influenced species composition, with former cacao plantations showing higher resemblance to old‐growth forests than former pastures along the chronosequence. While resistance was low for species composition and high for species richness and traits, all community properties had similarly high resilience. In essence, our results show that ant communities of the Chocó recovery rapidly, with former cacao reaching predicted old‐growth forest community levels after 21 years and pastures after 29 years. Recovery in this community was faster than reported from other ecosystems and was likely facilitated by the low‐intensity farming in agricultural sites and their proximity to old‐growth forest remnants. Our study indicates the great recovery potential for this otherwise highly threatened biodiversity hotspot.

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Species and functional trait re-assembly of ground beetle communities in restored grasslands

Cited by 37 publications

References 76 publications

Responses of grassland snakes to tallgrass prairie restoration

Responses of grassland snakes to tallgrass prairie restoration

Reintroduced grazers and prescribed fire effects on beetle assemblage structure and function in restored grasslands

Rapid ant community reassembly in a Neotropical forest: Recovery dynamics and land‐use legacy

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