Insect communities for monitoring restoration efforts with heterogeneous goals

Restoration projects usually have specific goals to be achieved. Though many techniques exist to evaluate the success of these projects, much has to be developed for addressing projects with heterogeneous goal settings. In the Attappady hills of the Western Ghats (India), unsustainable land use methods and various anthropogenic activities has converted the forests in to an arid and unproductive system. A large-scale restoration project for an integrated and sustainable eco-development of the region was initiated by the State Government to avert further degradation. In this restoration project, multiple styles are adopted to address different goals such as (1) reforestation of highly degraded forest with intensive planting  (2) facilitating autogenic regrowth for enhancing biodiversity and (3) enriching the agro-ecosystems by incorporating tree diversity. To evaluate the success of various efforts, the following were considered: how much do different restoration styles differ with respect to local biodiversity outcomes? And what are the implications for potential biodiversity recovery over large areas? Answers were derived by using ground insect communities as indicators of restoration success. The site-specific biodiversity outcomes of different styles of restoration in the Attappady landscapes of tropical dry forests were assessed. Vegetation structure and diversity along with insect diversity were measured across an age trajectory of restored sites and compared with reference sites (mixed dry deciduous forest). The pilot study indicated that the biodiversity outcomes differed considerably across restoration styles. However, the management of autogenic regrowth shows better potential for biodiversity recovery.