Functional groups and dispersal strategies as guides for predicting vegetation dynamics on reclaimed mines

Abstract

The development of species richness and plant cover through time are two important measures that are often used to assess success in land reclamation schemes. We expand this approach by considering functional groups in terms of life-history traits and dispersal strategies, as important components of ecosystem function and colonisation. Here, we test, if the species richness and cover of these functional groups are changed during post-treatment succession in 26 reclaimed coal mines, and whether these changes are related to selected soil variables (C:N, total N, and available P). Species richness showed a skewed unimodal response with time since reclamation, with a peak at 13 years. The richness of life-forms showed a clear dominance order starting with annuals, followed by perennial herbs and then woody species; whereas, when plant cover was considered, perennial herbs dominated the entire sequence. Dispersal strategies showed that anemochorous and zoochorous species were the most important groups. Soil variables were correlated with richness and cover of perennial herbs, woody species, and with anemochorous richness and zoochorous species cover. Our findings indicate that those species which respond during succession on reclaimed coal wastes are controlled in some part, by the attributes of functional groups, whereas the colonisation process is more dependent on seed sources from the local species pool than on soil properties. Our results also highlighted that the use of life-forms and dispersal strategy patterns improved the description and prediction of vegetation dynamics, and allowed us to identify successional stages better. We discussed the implication of these findings for future reclamation approaches in similar areas.

Reclamation strategies for mined forest soils and overstorey drive understorey vegetation

“…Soil moisture, nutrients and microbial assemblages are critical determinants of seed germination and plant growth and development; whereas, soil texture is important for the development of plant roots (Jung, Duan, House, & Chang, ) and for the retention of water and nutrients in the soil (Hillel, ; Leatherdale, Chanasyk, & Quideau, ). Furthermore, forest floor material typically contains a large seed bank that can be beneficial for establishing a plant community during restoration/reclamation (Alday, Pallavicini, Marrs, & Martínez‐Ruiz, ; Jung et al., ). Therefore, sites reclaimed with substrate materials that have complex structure and a higher availability of nutrients and water and contain forest floor materials should support more diverse and productive understorey plant communities compared to substrate material with less structural complexity and lower nutrient and water availability (Alday et al., ; Kardol & Wardle, ; Zhang & Dong, ).…”

“…Furthermore, forest floor material typically contains a large seed bank that can be beneficial for establishing a plant community during restoration/reclamation (Alday, Pallavicini, Marrs, & Martínez‐Ruiz, ; Jung et al., ). Therefore, sites reclaimed with substrate materials that have complex structure and a higher availability of nutrients and water and contain forest floor materials should support more diverse and productive understorey plant communities compared to substrate material with less structural complexity and lower nutrient and water availability (Alday et al., ; Kardol & Wardle, ; Zhang & Dong, ).…”

Returning biodiversity of rehabilitated forest on a coal mined site at Tanjung Enim, South Sumatra

“…Restoring mined areas to their original ecosystem is not easy because in many cases mining creates a new environment that may not reproduce the same features or function as the pre-mining conditions (Dragovich and Patterson 1995;Court et al 1996;Alday et al 2011b). At Myall Lakes National Park, Australia, Buckney and Morrison (1992) found clear differences in species composition along a temporal gradient between recently disturbed areas and pre-mining sand dune locations.…”

Mimosa scabrella BENTH. (FABACEAE) ENHANCES THE RESTORATION IN COAL MINING AREAS IN THE ATLANTIC RAINFOREST

“…Considering that the main goal of ecosystem restoration is to recover species composition, structure and the function of the original ecosystem prior to disturbance (BRADSHAW, 1990;MACMAHON, 1997;ALDAY et al, 2011a), the results from the "Pilot Restoration Project" (PRP) evidenced two major aspects: i) the inadequacy of taking into account solely the survival of former planted tree species as an indicator of success in restoration programs, once natural regeneration is the most important factor; ii) the preponderant importance of an appropriate species selection in restoration programs. The PRP evaluation, after 22 years from its implementation, showed that M. scabrella was the only native species that was still alive.…”