Abstract
Soil and litter arthropods represent a large proportion of tropical biodiversity and perform important ecosystem functions, but little is known about the efficacy of different tropical forest restoration strategies in facilitating their recovery in degraded habitats. We sampled arthropods in four 7‐ to 8‐year‐old restoration treatments and in nearby reference forests. Sampling was conducted during the wet and dry seasons using extractions from litter and pitfall samples. Restoration treatments were replicated in 50 × 50‐m plots in four former pasture sites in southern Costa Rica: plantation – trees planted throughout the plot; applied nucleation/islands – trees planted in patches of different sizes; and natural regeneration – no tree planting. Arthropod abundance, measures of richness and diversity, and a number of functional groups were greater in the island treatment than in natural regeneration or plantation treatments and, in many cases, were similar to reference forest. Litter and pitfall morphospecies and functional group composition in all three restoration treatments were significantly different than reference sites, but island and plantation treatments showed more recovery than natural regeneration. Abundance and functional group diversity showed a much greater degree of recovery than community composition. Synthesis and applications: The less resource‐intensive restoration strategy of planting tree islands was more effective than tree plantations in restoring arthropod abundance, richness, and functional diversity. None of the restoration strategies, however, resulted in similar community composition as reference forest after 8 years of recovery, highlighting the slow rate of recovery of arthropod communities after disturbance, and underscoring the importance of conservation of remnant forests in fragmented landscapes.
Highlights
Tropical forests have been extensively cleared and altered over the past century with significant consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function (Lamb 2014)
There was greater abundance, richness, and diversity in the applied nucleation/islands compared to the other restoration treatments, while reference forests frequently had the highest values
The applied nucleation/island treatments hosted the greatest number of arthropods of the three restoration strategies and were similar in this respect to the reference forest
Summary
Tropical forests have been extensively cleared and altered over the past century with significant consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem function (Lamb 2014). Restoration approaches, can result in markedly different community composition and habitat heterogeneity (Polley et al 2005; Kattan et al 2006; Holl et al 2013). The outcomes of restoration strategies, and their resulting differences in habitat structure, are poorly understood for many aspects of native biodiversity. This is especially true for soil and litter arthropod communities, despite the fact that they comprise an enormous proportion of tropical biodiversity (Decaens et al 2006; Hamilton et al 2013) and drive critical underlying ecosystem processes (Lavelle 1996)
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