M. N. Lewis, R. M. Steichen, and K. S. Summerville
Abstract: Tallgrass prairie and oak savannas now comprise less than 1% of the vegetation in Iowa. Thus, the conservation of native plant and animal diversity will require a commitment to habitat restoration. Animals, however, are often too costly to re-introduce over broad areas, so many land managers have opted for a more passive approach to faunal restoration. The success of this technique, however, is predicated on the assumption that colonization of a site from the regional species pool is favorably influenced by changes in environmental variables following restoration. The goal of this study was to test whether estimates of habitat quantity or quality, measured at different spatial scales, were significant predictors of lepidopteran diversity in mixed woodlands being restored to oak savanna.