The comparative role that biotic and abiotic agents play is important for seedling recruitment and our understanding of plant population dynamics and community restoration.� Fire, a major abiotic driver of population dynamics in savannas, provides better microsites for perennial forbs recruitment, such as increasing light and available nitrogen.� Alternatively, seed limitation occurs by post-dispersal seed predators resulting in lowered plant populations.� We hypothesized that seed removal by the granivore Pogonomyrmex barbatus (red harvester ant) alters perennial forb seedling establishment more than post-fire microsite properties.� To assess seedling recruitment by P. barbatus foragers, an ant-protected exclosure study was established in three colony densities, none (control), low, and high.� Seed addition of five forb species were sown in burned and unburned locations after a spring prescribed burn. To quantify probable seedling establishment for restoration planning, these species were germinated in laboratory conditions and field-tested for granivory rates.� Seedlings were significantly higher in exclosures compared to open arenas for all species combined, Simsia calva, and Engelmannia pinnatifida.� Slight increases were observed in burned locations.� Factors such as soil depth may be more important than burn properties in forb recruitment.� No differences were observed between low and high colony density likely because P. barbatus colonies protect their foraging areas.� Probability of a species' seed surviving to a seedling ranged from 2.6% to 38.1% indicating variable species preference by foragers and germination rates.� Seed limitation can be important in forb seedling recruitment even with microsite improvement after fire.�