TRENDS AND GAPS IN THE STUDY OF ANTS IN ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION IN BRAZIL

Ecological restoration is one of the main ways of recovering degraded areas. However, considering biodiversity, we still have a ‘phytocentric’ view of ecological restoration, neglecting the role of animals in this process, especially insects. Ants are one of the most abundant groups of insects in terrestrial environments, performing essential ecological functions such as nutrient cycling, soil bioturbation and seed dispersal. Therefore, understanding how these insects recover and perform their ecological functions in restoration areas is essential. Here, we review the trends and knowledge gaps regarding the ants' responses to restoration in Brazil, whether through passive restoration (natural regeneration) or active restoration (using different techniques such as no-till, nucleation, soil transposition etc). We found 70 articles published in the last 30 years on almost all Brazilian biomes. Most of the studies were (i) comparisons between degraded areas and reference ecosystems, despite a considerable number of studies (ii) evaluating chronosequences. In (i) comparative studies, areas undergoing restoration showed lower richness and abundance compared to reference ecosystems, while diversity was similar and composition was different. However, in (ii) chronosequence studies, richness and diversity increased over time, while abundance decreased and the results relating to composition were uncertain. Although these results reaffirm a pattern that has already been described, the inclusion of new metrics (phylogenetic and functional diversity, and studies of ecological interactions) in the assessment of ant communities could improve our understanding. Finally, Brazil has great potential for ecological restoration due to its vast areas of degraded land and high biodiversity, and ants can be a key element in this process.