Spontaneous succession on spoil banks supports amphibian diversity and abundance

Vojar, Jiří; Doležalová, Jana; Solský, Milič; Smolová, Daniela; Kopecký, Oldřich; Kadlec, Tomáš; Knapp, Michal

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.01.028

Cited by 26 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Similar results have been reported for different types of taxa (e.g. Šálek ; Vojar et al ; Kerbiriou et al ). In this context, restored gravel pits could be functioning as substitute habitats analogous to natural lagoons by providing nursery, refuge and foraging for semiaquatic species in those anthropogenic landscapes where natural semiaquatic habitats have been lost.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…For example, Šebelíková et al () studied restored coal mines in Central Europe and found that plant species richness was higher on spontaneously revegetated sites than in sites restored following forestry reclamation methods. Moreover, the restoration of gravel pits and open mining sites have been usually reported to progressively increase local biodiversity, for example for birds (Šálek ), amphibians (Vojar et al ), and bats (Kerbiriou et al ). There are even occasions where natural spontaneous succession may facilitate gravel pit restoration (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Potential of restored gravel pits to provide suitable habitats for Eurasian otters in anthropogenic landscapes

Martín-Collado

Clavijo

Rouco

et al. 2020

Restoration Ecology

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In anthropogenic landscapes, which are usually characterized by the existence of highly heterogeneous patchworks of habitats with different conservation status, restored gravel pits have the potential to play a conservation role for semiaquatic species such as Eurasian otters (Lutra lutra). Here, we report an otter habitat suitability analysis on a complex fluvial system in an anthropogenic landscape to understand the role of different artificial water bodies (i.e. irrigation channels and ditches) and natural water bodies (i.e. rivers) related to a restored gravel pit lagoon system as providers of suitable habitats for otters. We implemented seven sampling campaigns during 2016 and 2017 consisting of 19 transects across all existing types of water bodies. We integrated 34 environmental variables with otter habitat use, measured by three spraint marking intensity indicators. We found that otter use of water bodies was not related to the natural or artificial origin of the water. Three key factors influenced habitat suitability: riparian vegetation tree cover, forestland use (either natural or planted) within 100 m from the banks, and the level of human disturbance. Our results suggest that otters' tolerance of human activities might be lower in key areas of their territory compared to areas they pass through or explore. We argue that restored gravel pit lagoon systems can potentially play a role in providing suitable habitats for otters in anthropogenic landscapes.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential of restored gravel pits to provide suitable habitats for Eurasian otters in anthropogenic landscapes

Martín-Collado

Clavijo

Rouco

et al. 2020

Restoration Ecology

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“…This is in contrast to comprehensive zoological studies dealing with various groups of arthropods (e.g. Krauss et al ; Tropek et al ; Heneberg et al ), birds (Santoul et al ; Šálek ), or amphibians (Vojar et al ), which consider not only species richness, but also the conservation value of the recorded species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Threatened vascular plant species in spontaneously revegetated post‐mining sites

Řehounková

Vítovcová

Prach

2020

Restoration Ecology

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The occurrence of threatened vascular plant species has been occasionally reported from some disturbed sites. Nevertheless, almost nothing is known about the conservation potential of post-mining habitats for vascular plant species at a landscape scale. We asked how much threatened species occur in the artificial habitats, and if the participation of particular threatened species categories differ over the course of succession. We studied 10 successional series running in 321 post-mining sites across the Czech Republic, Central Europe. In total, 2,597 vegetation samples comprising 935 vascular plant species were analyzed. We found 235 threatened species (14% of the country's threatened flora). The majority of the threatened plants, namely 223, avoided plots overgrown by woody species, in which only 48 species occurred. The importance of spontaneously revegetated habitats for nature conservation differed among successional stages formed by discontinuous vegetation cover (not fully developed and still open, up to approximately 25 years since site abandonment), which harbored especially critically endangered species of open habitats, and continuous vegetation cover (fully developed and closed, over approximately 25 years), which was suitable for specialized threatened species typical of fully established vegetation. A mosaic of various successional stages comprising both categories of vegetation cover should be applied as an effective restoration solution to maintain a variety of habitats for threatened species.

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“…in such a way that specialized species dependent on early successional stage and sparsely vegetated habitats are among the most threatened in many regions (Morris et al 1994;Hoekstra et al 2005;Wenzel et al 2006). Literature is, therefore, quite abundant on the conservation potential of quarry sites for vascular plants (Bizoux et al 2004;Shu et al 2005;Tropeck et al 2010;Wheater & Cullen 1997), spiders (Tropek & Konvicka 2008;Tropeck et al 2010), odonata (Harabis 2016;Tichanek & Tropek 2015), orthoptera (Tropeck et al 2010, coleoptera (Brändle et al 2000), butterflies (Benes et al 2003;Tropeck et al 2010), wild bees (Krauss et al 2009), ants (Dekoninck et al 2010), amphibians (Dolezalova et al 2012;Vojar et al 2016) and birds (Šálek 2012). In addition to conservation policies focused on creating protected areas, it is increasingly argued that restoration of degraded areas must be undertaken in order to achieve worldwide ambitious targets (Aichi Biodiversity Targets) such as bringing close to zero the rate of loss of natural habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential of restoration of gravel-sand pits for Bats

Kerbiriou¹,

Parisot‐Laprun²,

Julien³

2018

Ecological Engineering

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Restoration management of quarries is one of the major tasks in global restoration ecology due to the magnitude of impacts link with extraction activities and the potential conservation value of these post-industrial sites. However, identifying a target to reach can be challenging as ecological issues can be numerous and post-exploitation state can differ from the original due to ecosystems removal or topography alterations caused by exploitation. Here, we assess the restoration potential of gravel-sand pits for Bats, a targeted group for conservation, using data from 21 gravel-sand pits monitored by the ROSELIERE scheme and we selected external data from 76 sites of the French Bat Monitoring. We analysed the relative attractiveness of 17 habitats and 5 gravel-sand pit operating statuses (before quarrying, during quarrying, rehabilitation post-quarrying younger than 5 years, rehabilitation post-quarrying between 5 and 10 years and, finally, rehabilitation post-quarrying older than 10 years). We paid close attention to comparison between gravel-sand pits states and aquatic habitats, because the restoration process in the gravel-sand pits studied often leads to bodies of water and these habitats are among the most favorable for numerous bats species. In addition, we focus our comparisons on arable land because new gravel-sand pit settlements are usually planned on such agricultural land and furthermore because it represents the major land-use pressure for bats. We found that bat activity in gravel-sand pit displays a range comparable to what is observed in numerous habitats, though it does appear both slightly lower than in bodies of water and greater than arable land. Bat activity appears increasing during the gravel-sand pit life's cycle. However, only quarries which had been rehabilitated for more than 10 years exhibited significantly greater bat activity than observed in the four other gravel-sand pit states. Our results, highlight the length of time required to detect obvious changes in the attractiveness of site being rehabilitated and the magnitude of the gap between the current state and the target (i.e. aquatic habitat). Such results should be take into account when sizing offsetting measures of quarries.

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Spontaneous succession on spoil banks supports amphibian diversity and abundance

Cited by 26 publications

References 29 publications

Potential of restored gravel pits to provide suitable habitats for Eurasian otters in anthropogenic landscapes

Potential of restored gravel pits to provide suitable habitats for Eurasian otters in anthropogenic landscapes

Threatened vascular plant species in spontaneously revegetated post‐mining sites

Potential of restoration of gravel-sand pits for Bats

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