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Trophic rewilding restructure the insect communities according to their functional traits: Insights from a multitaxa study.

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Title: Trophic rewilding restructure the insect communities according to their functional traits: Insights from a multitaxa study.
Authors: Walter, Jan1,2,3 (AUTHOR) jwalter@zcm.cz, Fric, Zdenek Faltynek2,4 (AUTHOR), Filippov, Petr5 (AUTHOR), Jirku, Miloslav6,7 (AUTHOR), Klimes, Petr2 (AUTHOR), Machac, Ondřej8 (AUTHOR), Perlik, Michal2 (AUTHOR), Potocky, Pavel2 (AUTHOR), Ricl, David9 (AUTHOR), Spitzer, Lukas2,10 (AUTHOR), Vrba, Pavel2 (AUTHOR), Konvicka, Martin1,2 (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of Applied Ecology. May2026, Vol. 63 Issue 5, p1-16. 16p.
Subjects: Insect communities, Herbivores, Life history theory, Species diversity, Biodiversity conservation, Restoration ecology
Geographic Terms: Czech Republic
Abstract: Trophic rewilding, or returning vertebrate megaherbivores to defaunated ecosystems, is advocated for restoring ecosystems and biodiversity conservation. As many groups of modern insects radiated during the Neogene era into landscapes inhabited by abundant megafauna, they should be adapted to disturbances provided by megaherbivores' presence.In the Czech Republic, 11 fenced localities have been trophically rewilded by horse, the reconstructed 'aurochs', wisent and water buffalo, in various combinations, since 2016 onwards. At these localities, we established 1‐ha plots in a rewilded/control design, characterised their vegetation and surveyed butterflies (passive monitoring since the rewilding onset), macro‐moths, bees and wasps, ants and orthopterans (single‐season rewilded/control surveys). We analysed the data using mixed linear models to compare insect species' richness and abundances and constrained ordinations with interpretation of ordination scores by the life history traits to investigate effects on species' composition.Trophically rewilded plots hosted more species and individuals of bees+wasps and orthopterans. They did not differ from controls in the other groups. Rewilding affected species' composition in all targeted groups, supporting smaller‐sized, specialised and less mobile species; butterflies and moths developing on small forbs; and ant trait composition did not respond to rewilding.Synthesis and applications. Presence of large ungulates increased richness and abundance of some insect taxa. Across taxa, it supported life history traits declining in modern industrialised landscapes. Trophic rewilding thus represents a way to remedy undesirable effects of land use intensification, and to mimic conditions in which a substantial proportion of temperate insect biodiversity has evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Applied Ecology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Trophic rewilding restructure the insect communities according to their functional traits: Insights from a multitaxa study.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Walter%2C+Jan%22">Walter, Jan</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2,3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> jwalter@zcm.cz</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fric%2C+Zdenek+Faltynek%22">Fric, Zdenek Faltynek</searchLink><relatesTo>2,4</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Filippov%2C+Petr%22">Filippov, Petr</searchLink><relatesTo>5</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jirku%2C+Miloslav%22">Jirku, Miloslav</searchLink><relatesTo>6,7</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Klimes%2C+Petr%22">Klimes, Petr</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Machac%2C+Ondřej%22">Machac, Ondřej</searchLink><relatesTo>8</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Perlik%2C+Michal%22">Perlik, Michal</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Potocky%2C+Pavel%22">Potocky, Pavel</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ricl%2C+David%22">Ricl, David</searchLink><relatesTo>9</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Spitzer%2C+Lukas%22">Spitzer, Lukas</searchLink><relatesTo>2,10</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Vrba%2C+Pavel%22">Vrba, Pavel</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Konvicka%2C+Martin%22">Konvicka, Martin</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Insect+communities%22">Insect communities</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Herbivores%22">Herbivores</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Life+history+theory%22">Life history theory</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Species+diversity%22">Species diversity</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Biodiversity+conservation%22">Biodiversity conservation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Restoration+ecology%22">Restoration ecology</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Czech+Republic%22">Czech Republic</searchLink>
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  Data: Trophic rewilding, or returning vertebrate megaherbivores to defaunated ecosystems, is advocated for restoring ecosystems and biodiversity conservation. As many groups of modern insects radiated during the Neogene era into landscapes inhabited by abundant megafauna, they should be adapted to disturbances provided by megaherbivores' presence.In the Czech Republic, 11 fenced localities have been trophically rewilded by horse, the reconstructed 'aurochs', wisent and water buffalo, in various combinations, since 2016 onwards. At these localities, we established 1‐ha plots in a rewilded/control design, characterised their vegetation and surveyed butterflies (passive monitoring since the rewilding onset), macro‐moths, bees and wasps, ants and orthopterans (single‐season rewilded/control surveys). We analysed the data using mixed linear models to compare insect species' richness and abundances and constrained ordinations with interpretation of ordination scores by the life history traits to investigate effects on species' composition.Trophically rewilded plots hosted more species and individuals of bees+wasps and orthopterans. They did not differ from controls in the other groups. Rewilding affected species' composition in all targeted groups, supporting smaller‐sized, specialised and less mobile species; butterflies and moths developing on small forbs; and ant trait composition did not respond to rewilding.Synthesis and applications. Presence of large ungulates increased richness and abundance of some insect taxa. Across taxa, it supported life history traits declining in modern industrialised landscapes. Trophic rewilding thus represents a way to remedy undesirable effects of land use intensification, and to mimic conditions in which a substantial proportion of temperate insect biodiversity has evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Applied Ecology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=egs&AN=194135738
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1111/1365-2664.70399
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      – Code: eng
        Text: English
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      Pagination:
        PageCount: 16
        StartPage: 1
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Insect communities
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Herbivores
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Life history theory
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Species diversity
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      – SubjectFull: Biodiversity conservation
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      – SubjectFull: Restoration ecology
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      – SubjectFull: Czech Republic
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      – TitleFull: Trophic rewilding restructure the insect communities according to their functional traits: Insights from a multitaxa study.
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              Text: May2026
              Type: published
              Y: 2026
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