Increasing Woody Species Diversity for Sustainable Limestone Quarry Reclamation in Canada

Abstract

Environmental sustainability of post mined limestone quarries often requires reclamation to a diverse woody plant community. Woody species diversity may be severely limited if only nursery stock is relied on for propagation material; thus other sources must be evaluated. To address woody species establishment and survival from different propagule sources at a limestone quarry in western Canada, native trees (4) and shrubs (3) were seeded and transplanted into amended substrates (wood shavings, clean fill, unamended control) in two seasons (spring, fall). Plant sources were nursery stock, local forest wildlings, seeds and forest soil (LFH mineral soil mix). Plant emergence, survival, height, health and browsing were evaluated over four years. Survival was greater with fall transplanted seedlings than with spring transplanted. Survival was greater for Picea glauca, Pseudotsuga menziesii and Populus tremuloides from nursery than local source stock. Seedlings from seeds and LFH did not survive for any of the species. Growth and survival were affected by bighorn sheep. Amendments did not improve plant establishment. Diversity of the woody plant community was increased at the quarry in spite of the severe conditions.

Forest restoration following surface mining disturbance: challenges and solutions

“…Forest floor material (including the litter, fermenting litter and humus layers) and surface mineral horizons) houses a rich bud and seed bank, which serves as the main source of native species propagules for vegetation re-establishment following many natural and human-caused disturbances (Greene et al 1999;Paré et al 1993;Schimmel and Granstrom 1996). The potential of this material for use in reclamation was recognized in Australia as early as the 1970's (Grant and Koch 2007) and this approach has gained recent interest in North America (e.g., Mackenzie and Naeth 2007;Cohen-Fernandez and Naeth 2013;Skousen et al 2011;Macdonald et al 2015).…”

“…Depending on the amount of available forest floor material, an option would be to place the material at a different depth than the thickness at which it was salvaged. While use of forest floor material for reclamation holds much promise, even when this material rich in plant propagules is used, revegetation success can be poor if site conditions are too severe (Cohen-Fernandez and Naeth 2013).…”

Evaluating the Effect of the Ecological Restoration of Quarry Slopes in Caidian District, Wuhan City

“…Many methods have been used to evaluate the effect of ecological restoration of quarries [10,[40][41][42], however, most of them just focused on qualitative analysis. Compared with qualitative analysis, the follow-up manual regulation can be guided according to the evaluation results, so as to achieve the sustainable development of the ecosystem of quarry slopes.…”

DAMPAK FASILITATIF TUMBUHAN LEGUM PENUTUP TANAH DAN TANAMAN BERMIKORIZA PADA SUKSESI PRIMER DI LAHAN BEKAS TAMBANG KAPUR (Facilitative Impacts of Legume Cover-crop and Mycorrhizal-inoculated Plant on Primary Succession of Limestone Quarries)

“…Kondisi tanah hanya meninggalkan lapisan batuan sebagai bahan induk tanah yang sangat miskin hara (pH= 8,14; C-org= 1,75%; N total= 0,12%; bahan organik= 0,10%; P tersedia= 19,2 ppm dan Ca= 115,75 me/1000g) (Prayudyaningsih, 2008;Singh dan Jamaluddin, 2011). Metode penambangan terbuka seperti penambangan batu kapur memang telah banyak dibuktikan meninggalkan kondisi tapak yang sangat tidak mendukung pertumbuhan jenis-jenis tumbuhan suksesi awal (Hazarika, 2006;Tropek dkk., 2010;Singh, 2011;Cohen-Fernandez dan Naeth, 2013).…”