An Investigation into the Effect of Soil and Vegetation on the Successful Creation of a Hay Meadow on a Clay‐Capped Landfill

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect that manipulation of soil and vegetation conditions has on plant community development during attempts to create neutral hay meadow communities on a clay-capped landfill in Somerset, United Kingdom. The objectives are (1) to determine the effect of manipulation of soil and vegetation on the development of the target plant community, (2) to identify whether these treatments had an effect on edaphic factors (physical and chemical properties, earthworm populations), and (3) to establish which, if any, of these edaphic parameters are underlying factors in determining the vascular plant community composition. In 2001 a commercial hay meadow seed mix was sown on three substrate treatments: (i) bare clay, (ii) a mixture of topsoil and compost ameliorant in equal proportions, and (iii) over naturally colonized vegetation. Plant community development and edaphic factors were monitored between 2001 and 2007. Although initially the presence of ameliorant promoted germination and growth of seeded species, after 2004 nonseeded competitive grasses dominated the sward.Where ameliorant was removed the target community continued to develop proving this to be the most successful treatment. This was found to be a due to suppression of competition from Elytrigia repens (Common couch), which grew most abundantly on soils with high organic matter and high soil water levels within the soil. Contrary to previous research, Trifolium repens (white clover) was not found to reduce forb diversity in this study. No evidence was found of earthworm abundance affecting plant community development.

A review of the impacts of degradation threats on soil properties in theUK

“…Also, the degradations in soil properties arising from brownfield development cause problems for re‐creating functioning soils. Restoration to a desired postoperation land use, such as species‐rich grassland, may require intervention (Carrington & Diaz, ). However, modern restoration techniques can successfully recreate habitats of high nature conservation value (Tarrant et al ., ), and indeed, soils with poor structure or nutrient status may help in this regard (HMG, ).…”

Ecological Performance of the Restored South East New Territories (SENT) Landfill in Hong Kong (2000–2012)

“…This implies that the self‐seeding process of native species was not effective within the restored area. This may be affected by environmental stresses (lower soil water content, TOC, OM and the decrease of soil pH), competition (Carrington & Diaz, ) with pioneering species and limitation of seed dispersal and transportation. Spontaneous restoration may require a longer period of time (Oldfield et al ., ).…”

“…It was also pointed out that it is possible that the non‐sanitary landfills could support succession to typical and natural forests (Kim et al ., ). Most studies on landfill restoration were targeted at non‐sanitary landfills (Chan et al ., ; Rawlinson et al ., ; Kim & Lee, , ; Biederman & Whisenant, ; Carrington & Diaz, ).…”

Landfill restoration and biodiversity: A case of study in Northern Italy

“…The most common method used for land reclamation is capping the closed landfill site with top soil on which vegetation can grow (De Mei and Di Mauro, 2006). Agricultural grassland has been the prevalent after-use for landfill sites across the world, but currently the legislative framework that has developed in several Countries tends to promote ecological restoration (Carrington and Diaz, 2011;Loures and Costa, 2012). Landfills restored for ecological purposes are colonised by wild flora and fauna, and a certain biodiversity degree can be achieved when suitable planning and management patterns are applied (Carballido et al, 2011;Kutby, 2013;Rahman et al, 2011).…”

“…The target for restoration can be the development of vegetation through spontaneous succession (Rebele and Lehman, 2002) or the manipulation of both soil and vegetation conditions to create a meadow (Biederman and Whisenant, 2009;Carrington and Diaz, 2011;Sabre et al, 1997). One more pattern applied to affect closed landfill evolution is the introduction of tree and shrub clusters to stimulate a forest restoration (Robinson and Handel, 1993).…”