Ants in restoration ecology: Why, what's and the way forward

• Published in: Land degradation & development Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 1284 - 1295
• Main Authors: De Almeida, Tania, Arnan, Xavier, Capowiez, Yvan, Hedde, Mickaël, Mesléard, François, Dutoit, Thierry, Blight, Olivier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 28.02.2024; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: active restoration; Ants; Civil engineering; ecological engineering; Ecological function; ecological functions; Ecological monitoring; ecological restoration; Ecosystem degradation; Ecosystems; Energy consumption; Environmental monitoring; Environmental restoration; Environmental Sciences; fauna; functional traits; land degradation; life history; Life Sciences; life‐history traits; monitoring; natural resources conservation; Nature conservation; nonrenewable resources; Plant communities; pollution; Renewable energy; Restoration; soil; Soil chemistry; Soil properties; Terrestrial ecosystems; ecological engineering; ecological functions; active restoration; life-history traits; monitoring; functional traits
• ISSN: 1085-3278; 1099-145X
• DOI: 10.1002/ldr.5006

Global changes call for more nature‐based solutions, especially in nature conservation involving ecological restoration. Current methods essentially based on civil engineering are both expensive and costly in non‐renewable energy consumption and pollution terms. The non‐sustainability of these techniques is leading to the direct use of certain species to restore degraded ecosystems. Ants, because of their central role in ecosystem functioning and their occurrence on almost all terrestrial ecosystems, are promising candidates for environmental monitoring and such ecological restoration projects. We provide here a narrative review of the ecological functions performed by ants, and we take stock of how ants are currently considered in passive and active restoration. We then propose a trait‐based approach to facilitate their use by practitioners in future restoration projects. We list and discuss both life‐history traits relevant for environmental monitoring and functional traits known to affect abiotic (physical and chemical soil properties) and biotic (plant and fauna communities) components.