Data from: Vegetation quality shapes insect community composition, but not abundance or richness in grasslands
Data files
Nov 02, 2026 version files 284.99 KB
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McFarlane_et_al_2026_functional_group.xlsx
106.73 KB
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Mcfarlane_et_al_2026_insect_data.xlsx
144.23 KB
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McFarlane_et_al_2026_site_data.xlsx
12.90 KB
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McFarlane_et_al_2026_summary_data.xlsx
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README.md
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Abstract
Insects are an important component of healthy grassland ecosystems and make up a large portion of grassland biodiversity. Grassland restoration has the potential to mitigate recent reductions in insect abundance and biodiversity, however, restoration practices vary and may have consequences on insect recovery. In this study, we evaluated whether insect abundance, diversity, and community composition varied among restored tallgrass prairies (sites that were seeded or sites that were seeded and burned), old fields (control sites that naturally regenerated grassland after cessation of agriculture), and remnant prairies (i.e., restoration targets). We collected insect sweep net samples at 33 grasslands throughout south-central Wisconsin, USA, and calculated total abundance and several diversity metrics at the family level including richness, Shannon’s diversity, and Pielou’s evenness for each site. We found that insect abundance and richness did not vary significantly among our grassland categories. Family-level Shannon’s diversity was lower in seeded sites than remnants. A multivariate ordination showed clear shifts in insect community composition, with the greatest amount of overlap found in our restored sites. Insect composition of restored prairies was distinctly different from both unrestored old fields and high-quality remnant sites.
This dataset contains the data needed to replicate analyses in McFarlane et al. (2026) that investigated whether insect abundance, insect diversity, and insect community composition were impacted by grassland quality (i.e., old fields, seeded-only restored prairies, seed and burned restored prairies, and remnant tallgrass prairies). These data cover insect sweep data collected at 33 grasslands (ranging in vegetation quality) in south-central Wisconsin. All insect sweep data were identified to family when possible; when specimens could not be identified to family, they were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible (e.g., super family or order). Additional insect data include collection day, month, and year (sweeps were collected at each site in either 2019, 2020, or both), the sample (three sweeps samples were collected at each site visit), and the number of individuals observed for each family observed in the sample. Summary vegetation data from McFarlane et al. (2023) were used in analyses and include plant species richness, native plant species richness, nonnative plant species richness, and mean coefficient of conservatism. Site data include the following for each grassland: site quality category, site size, restoration age, percent semi-natural area in landscape, year of last fire, and number of years since last fire. Analyses found that insect abundance and evenness was not different among grassland categories, but Shannon’s diversity was significantly different among some grassland categories. A Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) found a high degree of overlap between the restored tallgrass prairies, with the largest difference in insect community composition found in old-fields and remnant prairies.
Dates of Data collection
- Insect data (2019 and 2020)
- Vegetation summary data (2018 and 2019)
Data Spatial Scope
Data were collected at 33 grasslands in south-central Wisconsin that range in size from 3 to 674 acres. Site location is not given to protect private property locations.
Funding
This research was supported by the USDA award #NR193A750010C003 and NRCS award #68-5F48-17-023.
Files and variables
File: Mcfarlane_et_al_2026_insect_data.xlsx
Description: This file contains insect sweep data collected at the 33 grasslands included in this study. Samples were collected on three transects during each site visit. Insects were identified to family, or the lowest taxonomic level possible.
Number of variables: 7
Number of rows: 4300
Variable list:
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Site: Site location is not provided to protect private property name and location. Remnant sites included in this study are: Arena Hill Prairie, Black Earth Rettenmund, Faville, John Muir County Park, Oliver Prairie, Pleasant Valley Conservancy, and Westport Drumlin
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Year: Data collection year included in study
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Month: Data collection month included in study
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Day: Data collection day included in study
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Sample: Data was collected at three transects during each site visit (T1, T2, T3)
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Family: Insect family; if unknown, order was recorded
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Total: Total count of individuals observed on a given transect
File: McFarlane_et_al_2026_site_data.xlsx
Description: This file contains site information, including historical restoration and management records gathered from the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Wetlands Reserve Easement (WRE) program, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, The Prairie Enthusiasts, The Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum.
Number of variables: 7
Number of rows: 33
Variable list:
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Site: Site location is obscured to protect private property name and location. Remnant sites included in this study are: Arena Hill Prairie, Black Earth Rettenmund, Faville, John Muir County Park, Oliver Prairie, Pleasant Valley Conservancy, and Westport Drumlin
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Site_quality: Grassland quality continuum: old fields -> seeded sites -> seeded and burned sites -> remnant prairies
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Acres: Number of acres of site
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Restoration_age: Years since restoration at the time of data collection
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SemiNatural: Percent semi-natural area surrounding site
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Last_Fire: Year of last fire at the time of data collection
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Years_Since_Last_Fire: Number of years since last fire at the time of data collection
File: McFarlane_et_al_2026_summary_data.xlsx
Description: This file contains summary vegetation data from McFarlane et al. 2026 and Alstad et al., 2016.
Number of variables: 5
Number of rows: 33
Variable list:
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Site: Site location is obscured to protect private property name and location. Remnant sites included in this study are: Arena Hill Prairie, Black Earth Rettenmund, Faville, John Muir County Park, Oliver Prairie, Pleasant Valley Conservancy, and Westport Drumlin
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Plant_richness: Plant richness summary data; did not have data collected with the same methods at remnant sites, therefore do not have comparable data. Remnant sites are therefore denoted with NA values for this variable.
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Native_plant_richness: Native plant richness summary data; did not have data collected with the same methods at remnant sites, therefore do not have comparable data. Remnant sites are therefore denoted with NA values for this variable.
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Nonnative_plant_richness: Nonnative plant richness summary data; did not have data collected with the same methods at remnant sites, therefore do not have comparable data. Remnant sites are therefore denoted with NA values for this variable.
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AveCC: Mean coefficient of conservatism (C) for each site. Mean C for old fields and restored sites were from McFarlane et al. (2023). Mean C values for remnant sites were acquired from Alstad et al. (2016), which used different methods for their estimation. These data are not comparable.
File: McFarlane_et_al_2026_functional_group.xlsx
Description: This file contains the functional group data assigned to the insects that were identified in this study (see Mcfarlane_et_al_2026_insect_data.xlsx).
Number of variables: 3
Number of rows: 179
Variable list:
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Family: Insect family observed in our sampling
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Adult_functional_group: Broad adult insect functional group (herbivore, natural enemy, pollinator and other). Families that could not be placed clearly into one functional group were labeled "other"
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Notes: Notes on delineation
Related Data Sources
- Alstad AO, Damschen EI, Givnish TJ, Harrington JA, Leach MK, Rogers DA, Waller DM (2016) The pace of plant community change is accelerating in remnant prairies. Science Advances 2:e1500975. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500975
- McFarlane, SL, JM Kochanski, C Gratton, and EI Damschen (2023) Intervention intensity predicts the quality and duration of prairie restoration outcomes. Restoration Ecology e13993. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13993
- McFarlane, SL, AJ Brunette, LS Dean, JM Kochanski, TR Kuhman, GC Witynski, C Gratton, and EI Damschen (2026) Vegetation quality shapes insect community composition, but not abundance or richness in grasslands. Ecological Solutions and Evidence.
- Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources & University of Wisconsin-Madison. (2016). WISCLAND 2 Land Cover [Raster spatial data]. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/maps/WISCLAND
References (in the ReadMe)
- Alstad AO, Damschen EI, Givnish TJ, Harrington JA, Leach MK, Rogers DA, Waller DM
- (2016) The pace of plant community change is accelerating in remnant prairies. Science Advances 2:e1500975. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1500975
- Johnson NF, Triplehorn CA (2004) Borrer and Delong’s Introduction to the Study of Insects. 7th Edition. Cengage Learning, Florence, KY
- McFarlane, SL, JM Kochanski, C Gratton, and EI Damschen (2023) Intervention intensity predicts the quality and duration of prairie restoration outcomes. Restoration Ecology e13993. https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13993
- Pratt JD, A Datu, T Tran, DC Sheng and KA Mooney (2016) Genetically based latitudinal clines in Artemisia californica drive parallel clines in arthropod communities. Ecology 98:79-91. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.1620
File: Mcfarlane_et_al_2026_insect_data.xlsx
Three insect sweep transect locations were selected at each site in ArcGIS Desktop 10.5 (Esri 2016) using aerial photographs to ensure that plots were placed in the upland portion of the WRE sites. Twenty-five sweeps were collected at each location for a total of 75 sweeps per site for each site visit. Insect sampling was collected two times each year in either 2019, 2020, or both. Insects were identified to the family level using Borror and Delong’s Introduction to the Study of Insects, 7th edition (Johnson & Triplehorn, 2004). When specimens could not be identified to family, they were identified to the lowest taxonomic level possible and included in the data as an unknown family.
File: McFarlane_et_al_2026_site_data.xlsx
Study site selection was restricted to sites within a 161 km (100 mile) radius from Madison, Wisconsin, United States, that had non-hydric soils and a minimum of 0.8 hectares (2 acres) of restorable land. Site size ranged from 1.2 hectares to 273 hectares, with a mean size of 30 hectares (74.5 acres). Site historical records were obtained from land-managers. Percent semi-natural area was calculated by summing the proportion of grassland, forest, wetland within a 1.5 km buffer radius around each field site using the Wiscland 2 dataset.
File: McFarlane_et_al_2026_summary_data.xlsx
Vegetation for study sites was collected from previously published data (McFarlane et. al., 2023, Alstad et al., 2016).
File: McFarlane_et_al_2026_functional_group.xlsx
Broad functional groups for the the insects identified in this study were assigned from various sources, including (1) Mooney Laboratory database (Pratt et al. 2017), (2) Borror and Delong’s Introduction to the Study of Insects, 7th edition (Johnson & Triplehorn 2004), (3) bugguide.net, and (4) co-authors LSD and AJB.