Vegetation dynamics in lands degraded by gold mining in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon

Aguirre, Gabriel Alarcón; Quispe, Erika Sajami; Zavaleta, Telésforo Vásquez; Tejada, Luis Víctor Ponce; Enciso, Dalmiro Ramos; Achata, Liset Rodríguez; Garate-Quispe, Jorge

doi:10.1016/j.tfp.2023.100369

Cited by 9 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In our study, the dominance of Fabaceae is similar in advanced successional forest stands and in reference forest, Inga species capable of fixing nitrogen were dominant in both mining types. Similar results were found in other studies in degraded lands by gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon [20,[39][40][41]. This is important because nitrogen fixers are known to drive biomass accumulation in recovering secondary forests [21].…”

Section: Tree Species Dominance and Compositionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…The lower similarity in species composition (<20% in higher successional stages, Table S3) across the chronosequence suggests a slower recovery compared to those of AGB, species diversity and forest structure. This pattern has been observed for other tropical forests [37] and in secondary forests after mining in the Peruvian Amazon [20,[39][40][41]. This highlights the need to promote active restoration strategies to establish both economically and ecologically important valuable native tree species [37].…”

Section: Tree Species Dominance and Compositionsupporting

confidence: 52%

“…In the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon (Madre de Dios), studies on biomass estimates in natural regeneration after abandonment by mining activities are scarce. Most studies have focused on assessing the species diversity, floristic attributes, species composition [20,40,41], reforestation/rehabilitation experiments of these degraded ecosystems [42][43][44][45][46], and monitoring forest loss due to goldmining [19,26]. These studies showed that the degree of resilience of tree communities after abandonment by mining activities depends on the level of landscape fragmentation [41], stand age [20], and distance from the forest edge [41].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience of Aboveground Biomass of Secondary Forests Following the Abandonment of Gold Mining Activity in the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon

Garate-Quispe,

Herrera-Machaca,

Pareja Auquipata

et al. 2024

Diversity

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Amazon rainforests are critical for providing a wide range of ecosystem services. In the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon; however, goldmining activities are causing severe soil degradation and forest loss. We analyzed aboveground biomass (AGB), forest structure, and species diversity recovery during secondary succession in 179 forest plots. Our study provides the first field-based quantification of AGB recovery following the abandonment by two types of goldmining (heavy machinery and suction pumping) in Madre de Dios (Peru). We found that successional secondary forests in areas subjected to suction pumping were more resilient than those in areas subjected to heavy machinery. After 20 years, mean AGB in suction pumping mining areas had reached 56% of reference forest AGB, while in areas of heavy machinery mining it was only 18%. Mining type, stand age, and distance from the forest edge had a significant effect on AGB. The influence of the distance from the forest edge on AGB varies according to mining type because the effects of species diversity on AGB are mediated by the distance from the forest edge. Our results clearly showed the dynamics of AGB recovery across a secondary succession after goldmining, and the contrasting responses of AGB between the two mining types. Our study disentangles the importance of key factors in forest recovery after mining and improves understanding of the resilience of biomass accumulation in these highly degraded ecosystems.

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Section: Tree Species Dominance and Compositionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Tree Species Dominance and Compositionsupporting

confidence: 52%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience of Aboveground Biomass of Secondary Forests Following the Abandonment of Gold Mining Activity in the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon

Garate-Quispe,

Herrera-Machaca,

Pareja Auquipata

et al. 2024

Diversity

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“…Mining has been a crucial activity for the world economy and the development of human societies [1,2]. However, mining-related activities cause large-scale disturbance and fragmentation when original habitats are removed, excavated, or buried by the deposition of sterile material [3,4]. Even though mining-related activities take part only in less than 1% of the earth's land surface [1], they are a major cause of environmental degradation [5,6], serious health issues in local communities [7], and a threat to tropical ecosystems [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Distance from Forest Edges on Spontaneous Vegetation Succession Following Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Southeast Peruvian Amazon

Garate-Quispe,

Velásquez Ramírez,

Becerra-Lira

et al. 2023

Diversity

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Few studies describe the factors that influence the natural regeneration in abandoned gold mining areas in the Amazon. Here we focus on the influence of the distance to the forest edge and abandonment time in a spontaneous succession of degraded areas by gold mining in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon. We assessed woody species composition (DBH ≥ 1 cm) and forest stand structure across a chronosequence (2–23 years). A total of 79 species belonging to 30 families were identified. The natural regeneration was dominated by Fabaceae, Malvaceae, and Urticaceae. Together, they represented 60% of the importance index. Cecropia membranacea and Ochroma pyramidale were the dominant pioneer species at the initial successional stage. The basal area and species diversity were directly related to time after abandonment and inversely related to the distance to forest edges. The distance-based redundancy analysis showed that more of the variation in species composition was explained by distance to the forest edge than the abandonment time. Our study revealed that regeneration was relatively slow and provided evidence that the distance to the forest edge is important for natural regeneration in areas degraded by gold mining.

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“…Some portions of TP8, for example, remain flooded in some part of the year, which favors the long‐term retention of contaminants and can negatively impact plant growth because of the redox conditions in the substrate. Furthermore, the high pH and concentrations of S and Cu in TPs may limit environmental recovery, at least in terms of regaining a set of species comparable to the reference site, since tropical forests typically occur on infertile soils with high acidity and low concentrations of plant nutrients (Alarcón‐Aguirre et al, 2023; Condit et al, 2013). These findings show that the edaphic conditions reported in the studied areas hinder plant development and are different from those of forest areas (reference), impacting the ideal targets of ecosystem services, carbon stocks, and forest communities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Combining approaches for environmental assessment of rehabilitated gold‐mining areas in the Eastern Amazon

Ramos,

de Oliveira,

Ribeiro

et al. 2024

Land Degrad Dev

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Monitoring key soil and vegetation attributes in mining areas under environmental rehabilitation is essential to ensure that the intervention techniques are effective. There are several approaches to monitoring mining areas and their integration is necessary to process large amounts of information. Thus, this study aimed to (i) assess soil multi‐contamination with potentially toxic elements (PTE) and human health risks; (ii) obtain a soil quality index with soil fertility data; (iii) calculate spectral index; (iv) show rehabilitation status based on vegetation attributes, and (v) compile these indices in a single measure. Four tailings' ponds (TPs), two waste piles (WPs), and an area of native forest from a gold mine in the Carajás National Forest were evaluated. Soil quality and vegetation cover are good in forest areas, with no evidence of PTE contamination. On the other hand, the TPs have poor fertility and vegetation cover, as well as higher levels of PTE. Human health risk indices obtained for all PTE were lower than 1, indicating a low risk to human health. The results of integrating the different indices suggest that the environmental conditions of the WPs are better than those of the TPs, which are still far from the environmental conditions of native areas. Soil attributes and vegetation development in TPs areas could be enhanced by the incorporation of organic materials and fertilizers and by planting species with phytoremediation potential. Finally, the integrative approach of the different indices proved to be useful in assessing the rehabilitation progress of the areas.

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Vegetation dynamics in lands degraded by gold mining in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon

Cited by 9 publications

References 47 publications

Resilience of Aboveground Biomass of Secondary Forests Following the Abandonment of Gold Mining Activity in the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon

Resilience of Aboveground Biomass of Secondary Forests Following the Abandonment of Gold Mining Activity in the Southeastern Peruvian Amazon

Influence of Distance from Forest Edges on Spontaneous Vegetation Succession Following Small-Scale Gold Mining in the Southeast Peruvian Amazon

Combining approaches for environmental assessment of rehabilitated gold‐mining areas in the Eastern Amazon

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