Germination and early growth of boreal understory plants on 3 reclamation soil types under simulated drought conditions

Pinno, Bradley D.; Li, Edith H.Y.; Khadka, Bhupesh; Schoonmaker, Amanda

doi:10.3368/npj.18.2.92

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…FFMM had similar results to the 50/50 mix for willow, and similar results to PMM for aspen. This aligns with several studies that favor FFMM (originating from mineral soils) over PMM (originating from organic soils) as a soil cover in oil sands reclamation (Mackenzie and Naeth 2010;Jamro et al 2014;Dietrich and MacKenzie 2018), as well as other studies suggesting mixing the two reclamation soil types could be beneficial for reclamation (Mackenzie and Naeth 2010;Pinno et al 2017). Luna Wolter and Naeth (2014) found that FFMM caps placed above dry MFT resulted in a 30% increase in aboveground biomass in native grasses, nearly double the increase associated with PMM caps.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…FFMM salvages the upper forest floor organic layer and the underlying A and B horizons to an approximate depth of 0.3 m (Pinno and Das Gupta 2018), which can result in a forest floor to underlying mineral soil volume ratio of 1:5 (Pinno et al 2012). Some studies suggest FFMM provides a more suitable material than PMM for supporting plant growth (Mackenzie and Naeth 2010;Jamro et al 2014;Luna Wolter and Naeth 2014;Pinno et al 2017;Dietrich and MacKenzie 2018) because FFMM is typically richer in nutrients. Other studies found PMM to be well suited to support aspen growth as it is higher in organic matter and has a greater water-holding capacity (Pinno et al 2012;Pinno and Errington 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies found PMM to be well suited to support aspen growth as it is higher in organic matter and has a greater water-holding capacity (Pinno et al 2012;Pinno and Errington 2015). Combining the two soils could have benefits for supporting plant growth (Mackenzie and Naeth 2010;Pinno et al 2017). Overall, both soils are generally good reclamation materials to use as cover soils; however, PMM is more commonly used (Rowland et al 2009) due to greater availability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Capping dewatered oil sands fluid fine tailings with salvaged reclamation soils at varying depths to grow woody plants

et al. 2020

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Managing fluid fine tailings (FFT) present a major cause of industrial and environmental concerns in oil sands surface mining production. A potential management solution is to dewater and cap the FFT solids for use in land reclamation. A 16-week greenhouse study was conducted to assess whether FFT centrifuge cake with caps of various reclamation soil mixes (forest floor mineral mix, peat mineral mix, and a mixture of both) and depths (0, 5, 10 and 20 cm) would support growth of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides – native broadleaf tree) and beaked willow (Salix bebbiana – native broadleaf shrub). Beaked willow had a much greater survival rate (100%) when grown directly in FFT cake compared to trembling aspen (16.7%). Plants grown directly in FFT cake were negatively impacted by high water content, low nitrate supply rates, and high metal concentrations with beaked willow seedlings having 10 times higher foliar concentrations of Al, Cr, and Ti compared to any other treatments. Adding soil caps substantially increased aboveground biomass for both species but differences among soil cap types and depths did not have as significant of an effect on plant growth. Results from this study show that capping FFT substantially improves woody plant growth, and Salix bebbiana and Populus tremuloides are potentially suitable species for tailings reclamation.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Capping dewatered oil sands fluid fine tailings with salvaged reclamation soils at varying depths to grow woody plants

et al. 2020

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“…Successful reclamation of disturbed landscapes depends very much on re-establishing plant-soil interactions and local species pools that are most suitable and have the greatest potential on specific sites and soil types 70 . The relationships observed in the natural post-fire sites helped to compare and justify the expected interactions in reclaimed sites at a similar temporal scale.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of understory species richness in reconstructed boreal ecosystems: a structural equation modeling analysis

Gupta

Pinno

2020

Sci Rep

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Understory vegetation accounts for the most diverse part of the plant community in boreal forests and plays a critical role in stand dynamics and ecosystem functions. However, the ecological processes that drive understory species diversity are poorly understood and largely unexplored for reconstructed boreal ecosystems. The current study explored the relationships between understory species richness and biotic and abiotic factors in sites reclaimed after oil sands mining in northern Alberta, Canada, three and six growing seasons post-reclamation. Reclaimed sites with two main surface soils, forest floor mineral soil mix (FFMM) and peat mineral soil mix (PMM), were used along with post-fire benchmarks. A number of soil physicochemical (including nutrients) and vegetation properties were measured and considered in the a-priori hypothesis framework. Structural equation models (SEM) were used to evaluate the multivariate relationships. In general, the FFMM sites had greater species richness than the PMM sites, even six growing seasons after reclamation. A maximum 254% increase in graminoid and shrub cover was observed on FFMM between year 3 and 6 post-reclamation, whereas a maximum 137% increase in forb and bryophyte cover was recorded on PMM. The post-fire sites showed a significant increase (70%) only in shrub cover. Major driving factors of understory species richness varied among soil types. The SEM revealed a strong interdependency between species richness and soil and vegetation factors on FFMM with a positive control from soil N on species richness. In contrast, on PMM soil nutrients had a negative effect on species richness. Temporal changes in the drivers of species richness were mostly observed on FFMM through a negative vegetation control on species richness. The models and significant causal paths can be used in monitoring changes in understory species relationships in reclaimed sites and in identifying future research priorities in similar systems.

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Growing Woody Plants in Oil Sands Fine Tailings

Lalonde¹

2019

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Germination and early growth of boreal understory plants on 3 reclamation soil types under simulated drought conditions

Cited by 3 publications

References 10 publications

Capping dewatered oil sands fluid fine tailings with salvaged reclamation soils at varying depths to grow woody plants

Capping dewatered oil sands fluid fine tailings with salvaged reclamation soils at varying depths to grow woody plants

Drivers of understory species richness in reconstructed boreal ecosystems: a structural equation modeling analysis

Growing Woody Plants in Oil Sands Fine Tailings

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