Islands – Soil Patches and Plant Community Dynamics on a New Oil Sands Reclamation Design

Abstract

The goal of land reclamation after oil sands mining in the boreal forest of northern Alberta, Canada is to re-establish functioning forest ecosystems, including the development of a natural plant community. Reclamation practices include the use of operational reclamation soils derived from upland forest soils (referred to as forest floor-mineral mix (FFMM)), which has higher plant diversity, and lowland based peat-mineral mix (PMM), which has greater tree regeneration. Building from experience in forest harvesting practices and natural landscape patterns, the "Islands" reclamation concept was put into practice in a new reclamation area established in 2015 with patches or islands of differing sizes and shapes of FFMM placed within a matrix of the more abundant PMM. These islands of FFMM are intended to serve as lifeboats and colonization centres for native biota. Initial studies are focusing on determining the optimal size and spacing of the FFMM patches. Plant species area curves were developed and show that patch sizes of at least 671-960 m 2 are recommended to allow initial establishment of native plant species, and in particular woody species, with smaller patch sizes favouring non-native weedy species. Initial spatial patterns indicate no relationship between plant species richness and distance to FFMM-PMM soil boundary with the rate and distance of spread of native plants from the FFMM patches being an important monitoring consideration in future years. This work on the Islands approach will help in the development of more efficient and effective reclamation practices which take advantage of the ecological differences in available reclamation soils.

Plant recolonization of reclamation areas from patches of salvaged forest floor material

“…This reliance on vegetative propagation structures explains why the vegetation community associated with the FFM patches was not found further than 5 m away from the patch borders. In four growing seasons, species that spread using below‐ or above‐ground vegetative propagules had only egressed out from the patches an average of 0.5 m. This relatively slow rate of egress has been identified as one of the limitations of nucleation expansion (Robinson & Handel, ) and could potentially be addressed by patch size and distribution on the landscape (Pinno, Sherr, Errington, & Shea, ).…”

Do Weeds Hinder the Establishment of Native Plants on a Reclaimed North American Boreal Mine Site?

“…Volumetric soil water content (FieldScout TDR 300, Spectrum Technologies Inc., Aurora, IL, USA), soil temperature (Fisher Scientific digital thermometers), and pH (400-m, Field Scout, Spectrum Technologies Inc., Aurora, IL, USA) were measured within a short period (3-5 days) to minimize variation [33]. Soil measurements were not performed within 24 h after a rain event [33,34]. Volumetric water content (VWC) was collected from three random locations within the inner plot to acquire an average reading.…”

The Impact of Landscape Reclamation on Mangrove Forest and Coastal Areas in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

“…There are also some burrowing organisms that dig into shore sand. Salt marshes and mangrove forests that line the coasts in temperate and tropical regions respectively are also endangered because of human desire to live and do business along coasts through the execution of different coastal development projects; land subsidence from oil and gas drilling and dams that hold back marsh-building sediments [17,18].…”