The vegetation of metalliferous and non-metalliferous grasslands in two former mine regions in Central Slovakia

Abstract

Abstract:We investigated the composition of the vegetation in two former mining regions in Central Slovakia: Banská Štiavnica with predominant Pb-Zn contamination and Staré Hory with a very high Cu content in the soil. Old heaps rich in heavy metals are covered with specific vegetation. On the Cu-rich spoil heaps, species-poor plant communities with prevailing Agrostis stolonifera, Avenella flexuosa, Acetosella vulgaris, Arabidopsis arenosa, Silene dioica, and S. vulgaris occur. Species such as Agrostis capillaris, Acetosella vulgaris, Arabidopsis arenosa, and Thlaspi caerulescens appear frequently on Pb-Zn mine wastes. Several differences in the vegetation structure were detected between the Pb-Zn and Cu mine heaps; higher amounts of vascular plants and fewer lichen species covered the Pb-Zn mine heaps. For the Cu mine heaps, on the contrary a small number of vascular species but a high number and coverage of lichen species, especially Ceratodon purpureus and Cladonia arbuscula subsp. mitis were typical. The non-metalliferous meadows in the vicinity of the mines showed uniform structure but a higher species diversity.

Physiological comparison of copper toxicity in the lichens Peltigera rufescens (Weis) Humb. and Cladina arbuscula subsp. mitis (Sandst.) Ruoss

“…Due to the low technology of mining operations in medieval times, the copper content of the spoil heaps is still very high (Bačkor and Fahselt 2004a;Banásová et al 2006). The mean copper content of mine heaps in Central Slovakia is more than 3,600 mg/kg, and in the soils of adjacent meadows c. 150 mg/kg (Banásová et al 2006).…”

Cladonia lichens as the most effective and essential pioneers in strongly contaminated slag dumps

“…The occurrence of some Cladonia species within metal-enriched areas was previously documented in other parts of the world (e.g. [13,18,37,38]); however, the abundance, ecological value and upper limit of tolerance for metal enrichment in the environment of these species have not been resolved thus far. Apart from Cladonia, individuals of only two other epigeic lichen genera were observed on the examined dumps (see Table 4).…”

“…8,18,20,23]. The epigeic lichens play a fundamental role in the natural soil formation process, the consolidation of the upper substrate layer and slope stabilisation.…”

“…[18][19][20][21][22][23]. Despite adverse factors, there are lichens that effectively colonise such areas, and interestingly, some of them are abundant and form compact swards.…”

Influence of a Heavy-Metal-Polluted Environment on Viola tricolor Genome Size and Chromosome Number

“…Melanium; 2n = 26), a species occurring both on metalliferous (Zn, Pb, Cd, Cu) and on non-metalliferous soils in Western and Central Europe (Dobrzańska, 1955;Ernst et al, 2004;Banásová et al, 2006;Hildebrandt et al, 2006Hildebrandt et al, , 2007. Our previous research addressed the influence of soils polluted with heavy metals on the plant antioxidative system (Słomka et al, 2008), plant morphology, reproduction and pollen viability (Słomka et al, 2010c), mycorrhiza colonization (Słomka et al, 2011a) and genetic variation (Słomka et al, 2011b).…”