The effects of grassland reintegration on ant communities and predation services

Land use changes have altered grasslands within the landscape, with over 90% of grassland systems converted to agriculture or some other use in north temperate regions. Reintegrating grasslands into agricultural landscapes can increase biodiversity while also providing valuable ecosystem services. The success of reintegrating grasslands and potential increase in biodiversity and ecosystems can vary on number of factors (e.g., land use history, management, soil quality, etc.). Here we explore how land use history, management, soil quality, and plant diversity affects ant communities across 20 grassland sites (8-12 years post restoration) used in previous work exploring how these factors affect plant communities. We focus on ant communities because previous work has found ants are significant predators of agricultural pests in grasslands. To sample the ant communities we used pitfall and litter sampling at three points during the growing season (June through August). We also explore how potential differences in ant community impact contribute to prey removal within restored grasslands using sentinel egg prey. Overall, we found no significant difference in ant species abundance, richness, or species diversity, based on land-use history or time since establishment. We found that amount of grasslands within 500m, soil pH, percent clay, and percent sand effects ant species composition. Additionally, we found no effect of land use or other site measures on egg removal. Based on the sites samples in grasslands 8-12 years post restoration, ant communities appear similar in the composition and contribution to prey insect egg removal in grasslands.