Concordance between regenerating plants, ants and other arthropods in the Atlantic Forest: the importance of tree identity in the canopy

ABSTRACT Monitoring restoration practices is an expensive process, but essential to verifying their success. One way to reduce sampling costs is using biodiversity indicators, a term used for a functional or taxonomic group that is in agreement with another group. The objective of this work was to evaluate the agreement between the richness and composition of regenerating plants, ants and other arthropods under the canopy of four tree species in a restoration area in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil, as well as to determine the relationship of biological communities with parameters environmental and spatial. It was found that environmental variables, often linked to the tree's identity, are preponderant in determining the relationship between ants, other arthropods and regenerating plants. In addition, ants proved to be weak indicators of regenerating plants and other arthropods diversity and composition and this relationship was not guided by environmental and spatial variables. Thus, the results found here recommend caution when using ants as indicators of plant biodiversity and other arthropods in monitoring programs in the Atlantic Forest.摘要 生态修复实践的监测工作成本高昂，但却是验证修复成效的必要环节。降低采样成本的有效路径之一是应用生物多样性指示物（biodiversity indicators）——该术语指与另一类群具有群落一致性的功能类群或分类学类群。本研究旨在评估巴西大西洋森林（Atlantic Forest）某修复区域内，4种乔木冠层下的更新植物（regenerating plants）、蚂蚁及其他节肢动物（arthropods）的物种丰富度与群落组成间的一致性，并探究生物群落与环境参数及空间参数之间的关联。研究发现，通常与乔木种类相关的环境变量，是决定蚂蚁、其他节肢动物与更新植物之间关联的主导性因素。此外，蚂蚁对更新植物及其他节肢动物的多样性与群落组成仅表现出较弱的指示效果，且该关联并未受环境与空间变量的调控。因此，本研究结果提示，在大西洋森林的修复监测项目中，将蚂蚁作为植物生物多样性与其他节肢动物的指示物时需谨慎行事。