Development of population structure and spatial distribution patterns of a restored forest during 17-year succession (1993–2010) in Pingshuo opencast mine spoil, China

Abstract

Afforestation of native tree species is often recommended for ecological restoration in mining areas, but the understanding of the ecological processes of restored vegetation is quite limited. In order to provide insight of the ecological processes of restored vegetation, in this study, we investigate the development of the population structure and spatial distribution patterns of restored Robinia pseudoacacia (ROPS) and Pinus tabuliformis (PITA) mixed forests during the 17 years of the mine spoil period of the Pingshuo opencast mine, Shanxi Province, China. After a 17-year succession, apart from the two planted species, Ulmus pumila (ULPU), as an invasive species, settled in the plot along with a large number of small diameter at breast height (DBH) size. In total, there are 10,062 living individual plants, much more than that at the plantation (5105), and ROPS had become the dominant species with a section area with a breast height of 9.40 m(2) hm(-2) and a mean DBH of 6.72 cm, much higher than both PITA and ULPU. The DBH size classes of all the total species showed inverted J-shaped distributions, which may have been a result of the large number of small regenerated ULPU trees. The DBH size classes of both ROPS and PITA showed peak-type structures with individuals mainly gathering in the moderate DBH size class, indicating a relatively healthy DBH size class structure. Meanwhile, invasive ULPU were distributed in a clear L shape, concentrating on the small DBH size class, indicating a relatively low survival rate for adult trees. Both ROPS and PITA species survival in the plantation showed uniform and aggregated distribution at small scales and random with scales increasing. ULPU showed a strong aggregation at small scales as well as random with scales increasing. Both the population structure and spatial distribution indicated that ROPS dominates and will continue to dominate the community in the future succession, which should be continuously monitored.

Spatial patterns and interspecific associations among trees at different stand development stages in the natural secondary forests on the Loess Plateau, China

“…In our research, the tree diameter class distribution curves across all three forests suggested that trees in all forests were highly dense as saplings, but that mortality was also high ( Figure 3). It has been shown that initial clustering structure for juveniles was an important factor affecting adult spatial structure (Zhao, Wang, Bai, Pan, & Wang, 2015), but environmental heterogeneity also was an important factor (Myster & Pickett, 1992;Schurr, Bossdorf, Milton, & Schumacher, 2004 Zou, Liu, and Wang (2002), Zou, Cheng, and Lei (1998) and Lei, Wang, Guo, and Zhu (2007).…”

Effects of Vegetation Pattern and Spontaneous Succession on Remediation of Potential Toxic Metal-Polluted Soil in Mine Dumps

“…In remediation projects, fertile soil mixed with fragmented rocks is transported to form large-scale dumps [66]. The natural succession process of both soil and vegetation in these areas requires a significant amount of time, during which the dumps are exposed to wind and water erosion processes [67]. In this harsh environment, ecological rehabilitation needs to consider the restoration of potential-toxic-metal-polluted soil and the reconstruction of plant communities.…”

Spatially designed revegetation—why the spatial arrangement of plants should be as important to revegetation as they are to natural systems

“…Similarly, direct seeding is generally done in rows, with the same mix of seeds being applied at a constant rate over an area (Jonson ). As a result, revegetated communities often show uniform, linear, or random spatial arrangements, rather than the aggregated to random patterns more commonly observed in natural ecosystems (Miller et al ; Paton et al ; Zhao et al ). Revegetation also tends to have different relative abundances of species, fewer understory species, and greater admixture of species than natural systems (Lockhart et al ; Paton et al ; Schneemann & McElhinny ; Zhao et al ).…”