Post-industrial sites form a unique phenomenon in the landscape. They enable us to study the human-altered succession of communities. Regarding this, we studied an ant community in three types of habitats – reclamation and spontaneous succession in an ore basin together with unaltered surroundings in the Czech Republic. More than 30 years after being abandoned, the site with spontaneous succession was more species rich than the reclaimed one. Moreover, spontaneous succession created a habitat that was more similar regarding ant diversity to the unaltered surrounding environment than that after traditional reclamation. Ants dependent on tree vegetation were rather rare in both the reclaimed and spontaneous succession parts of the ore basin compared to the surrounding landscape. The relative abundance of socially parasitic ants increases in a gradient from the reclaimed basin, through the basin with spontaneous succession to the unaltered surroundings. Our study highlighted the fact that the formation of ant communities at post-industrial sites is clearly more complicated than for other arthropods, including related aculeate hymenopterans. The potential of both reclaimed and spontaneous succession basins for harbouring endangered species appeared to be lower for ants than for other taxa indicated by recent studies.
The prediction of species response to human activity is of great interest in contemporary restoration ecology. The purpose of the article was to analyse which species life history traits and species habitat preferences are important during succession after the abandonment of mining activity in a sand-pit. During a 15-year period (1996–2010), 176 phytosociological relevés were placed within vegetation patches of different ages and divided according to soil moisture, thus forming two series of chronosequences that ranged from 0 to ca. 50 years. The datasets were analysed using both DCA/CCA ordinations and regression trees. The successional gradient, apart from the theoretically predicted replacement R by C strategists, revealed the occurrence of stresstolerant ruderals and competitive ruderals in the early successional stages. However, differences were observed between the wet and dry series. On dry soils the ruderals, anemochorous and windpollinated species dominated in the early phases. In the middle successional phases, a preponderance of anemochorous species (nanophanerophytes, light or semi-shade demanding species), nitrogen-poor and competitive ruderals or species typical for nitrogen-rich soils was recorded. In the late successional stages, species with both the ability of vegetative and generative reproduction appeared. On the other hand, on wet sites in the early successional phases, species with vegetative growth, hydrophytes, chamaephytes and stresscompetitors prevailed. Later in the succession, they were replaced by insect-pollinated species in nitrogen rich habitats and stress-tolerant ruderals on less fertile habitats. Finally, competitors started to prevail. Knowledge of the environmental conditions of a given site, the ecological processes and species biology can assist in achieving the desired goals or in initiating or enhancing succession on some disturbed sites.
The aim of this study was to examine the impact of spontaneous succession in comparison with black fallow on selected physical properties of soil damaged by mining in the area of internal dumping ground Pątnów near Konin. To evaluate the soil physical status, basic physical and chemical parameters (total organic carbon, bulk and particle density, pH), water characteristic curves, and water and air permeability were measured. The observed water retention data with the saturated hydraulic conductivity value were fitted to obtain soil water characteristic curves, differential porosity plots, and hydraulic conductivity function in the vadose zone. Over 30 years of spontaneous succession treatment of the post-mining grounds enriched the resulting Technosol in organic carbon 4 times more than the black fallow treatment. Vegetation caused a high belowground input of organic material, which was apparent by very low bulk density and very high porosity values. Spontaneous succession changed the typical differential porosity of a sandy soil mostly in the mesopore region. Soils under both treatments were characterised by excessive field air capacity, but the soil under spontaneous vegetation revealed higher volume of water available for plants in comparison to the black fallow soil, despite its coarser texture. The black fallow soil had lower and more variable air and water permeabilities than the soil under spontaneous succession. Vegetation including plants with extensive root systems positively influenced soil physical state, thereby improving soil ecosystem stability.
JavaScript jest wyłączony w Twojej przeglądarce internetowej. Włącz go, a następnie odśwież stronę, aby móc w pełni z niej korzystać.