- Title
- Higher-taxon and functional group responses of ant and bird assemblages to livestock grazing : a test of an explicit surrogate concept
- Creator
- Barton, Philip; Evans, Maldwyn; Sato, Chloe; O'Loughlin, Luke; Foster, Claire
- Date
- 2019
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/182721
- Identifier
- vital:16156
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.09.026
- Identifier
- ISBN:1470-160X (ISSN)
- Abstract
- Biodiversity monitoring programs are routinely established to quantify changes in biotic communities in response to land management. Surrogacy is implicitly used in many such monitoring programs whereby the measurement of a component of biodiversity is used to infer responses of broader biodiversity. Yet rarely is this surrogacy validated by demonstrating that measured variables and the target variable of interest have matching responses to management treatments. Here we examined the responses of higher-taxon and functional groupings of ants and birds (our surrogate variables) two years after the implementation of experimental livestock grazing treatments, and compared these with the responses of total ant and bird species richness (our target variables) to the same treatments. We found significant and strong correlations between surrogate and target variables, but this did not predict corresponding similar response to treatments. For ants, we found that the genus Monomorium had a negative response to the grazing exclusion treatment, but there was no matching response of species richness, and so no surrogacy was identified. For birds, total species richness had a weak positive response to spring/summer grazing exclusion, and the abundance of honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) showed a similar positive response, suggesting surrogacy. Our study highlights that correlations among variables do not necessarily lead to surrogacy, and indeed that different sub-components of biotic assemblages can respond in ways that contrast with overall species richness. Careful assessment of the matched responses of surrogate and target variables to management can provide a simple and robust way to critically assess biodiversity surrogacy. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. **Please note that there are multiple authors for this article therefore only the name of the first 5 including Federation University Australia affiliate “Philip Barton” is provided in this record**
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V.
- Relation
- Ecological Indicators Vol. 96, no. (2019), p. 458-465
- Rights
- All metadata describing materials held in, or linked to, the repository is freely available under a CC0 licence
- Rights
- Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd.
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- 31 Biological Sciences; 34 Chemical Sciences; 41 Environmental Sciences; Biodiversity conservation; Grazing; Indicator; Insect; Modified landscape; Monitoring
- Full Text
- Reviewed
- Funder
- Lachlan Catchment Management Authority provided financial and equipment support as well as technical advice. New South Wales Office of Environment and Heritage provided laboratory resources
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