Data from: Measuring the success of reforestation for restoring biodiversity and ecosystem functioning

Effective assessment of the success of ecological restoration projects is critical in justifying the use of restoration in natural resource management as well as improving best practice. One of the main goals of ecological restoration is the recovery of ecosystem function, yet most researchers assume that increasing species and or functional diversity equates with restoration of ecosystem function, rather than empirically demonstrating these mechanistic relationships. In this study, we assess how dung beetle species diversity, community composition, functional diversity and ecological functions vary along a restoration chronosequence and compare restored areas with reference (rain forest) and degraded (pasture) systems. We also directly investigate the dung beetle diversity – ecosystem functioning relationship in the context of ecological rain forest restoration by testing the predictive power of traditional taxonomic indices and functional diversity metrics for functionality. Species richness, abundance, biomass and functional richness all increased with restoration age, with the oldest restoration sites being most similar to rain forest, whereas functional evenness and functional divergence decreased with restoration age. Community composition in the restored areas was clearly progressing towards the rain forest sites and deviating from the pasture sites with increasing restoration age. Secondary seed dispersal rates increased with restoration age, but there was only a weak positive relationship between dung removal and soil excavation and restoration age. Biodiversity metrics explained 47–74% of the variation in functions mediated by dung beetles; however, functional trait-based indices provided greater explanatory power of functionality than traditional species-based metrics. Synthesis and applications. Our results provide empirical evidence on the potential of tropical forest restoration to mitigate biodiversity losses, recovering not only faunal species diversity, but also functional diversity and ecosystem functions in a relatively short period of time. We also demonstrate that functional trait-based metrics are better predictors of functionality than traditional species-based metrics but that the relationship between restoration age, diversity and ecosystem functioning is not straightforward and depends on the functions, traits and metrics used

Appendix S2

Species photographic material

Appendix S1

Species records

Recovery of mammal diversity in tropical forests: a functional approach to measuring restoration

Ecological restoration is increasingly applied in tropical forests to mitigate biodiversity loss and recover ecosystem functions. In restoration ecology, functional richness, rather than species richness, often determines community assembly, and measures of functional diversity provide a mechanistic link between diversity and ecological functioning of restored habitat. Vertebrate animals are important for ecosystem functioning. Here, we examine the functional diversity of small‐to‐medium sized mammals to evaluate the diversity and functional recovery of tropical rainforest. We assess how mammal species diversity and composition and functional diversity and composition, vary along a restoration chronosequence from degraded pasture to “old‐growth” tropical rainforest in the Wet Tropics of Australia. Species richness, diversity, evenness, and abundance did not vary, but total mammal biomass and mean species body mass increased with restoration age. Species composition in restoration forests converged on the composition of old‐growth rainforest and diverged from pasture with increasing restoration age. Functional metrics provided a clearer pattern of recovery than traditional species metrics, with most functional metrics significantly increasing with restoration age when taxonomic‐based metrics did not. Functional evenness and dispersion increased significantly with restoration age, suggesting that niche complementarity enhances species' abundances in restored sites. The change in community composition represented a functional shift from invasive, herbivorous, terrestrial habitat generalists and open environment specialists in pasture and young restoration sites, to predominantly endemic, folivorous, arboreal, and fossorial forest species in older restoration sites. This shift has positive implications for conservation and demonstrates the potential of tropical forest restoration to recover rainforest‐like, diverse faunal communities