Functional diversity of macroinvertebrates as a tool to evaluate wetland restoration

Ecological restoration of aquatic ecosystems has become widespread in recent decades. Whereas the recovery of biodiversity in restored wetlands has been studied from a taxonomic perspective, our knowledge of how functional biodiversity recovers remains poorly understood.

We studied the functional diversity of macroinvertebrate communities in 32 Mediterranean temporary ponds six to seven years after their creation during a restoration in South-West Spain, and compared them with 10 natural reference sites during two consecutive hydroperiods. We compared alpha functional diversity indices, and the individual contributions of new ponds and reference sites to the regional functional beta diversity, as well as to its turnover and nestedness components. We also investigated the influence of environmental and spatial variables on the dissimilarities of functional beta diversity and its components between new ponds and reference sites.

Alpha functional diversity in new ponds was lower th...