Growth evaluation of native tree species planted on post coal mining reclamation site in East Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

Lestari DA, Fiqa AP, Fauziah, Budiharta S. 2019. Growth evaluation of native tree species planted on post coal mining reclamation site in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 20: 134-143. Mining activities affect environmental qualities including the loss of vegetation cover and the damages of physical, chemical and biological properties of soil. As such, regulations enacted by the Indonesian Government state a legal obligation for mining companies to carry out reclamation on post coal mining site. Reclamation is an activity carried out to organize, restore and improve of environmental quality after mining operations to enhance the highly disturbed ecosystem of mined land into ecologically usable state. Yet, there is little body of knowledge on how to monitor the effectiveness of reclamation in improving environmental quality of ex-mining land. Aims of this study are to evaluate of the growth of native tree species planted on various types of reclamation sites in a mining concession in East Kalimantan, and to analyze the most influencing factor of their growth. Growth parameters measured in this research were plant height, stem diameter and branch-free stem height of the planted species. Micro-climatic factors and diversity of understorey plants were also measured as environmental parameters. PCA (Principal Component Analysis) analysis was conducted using PAST 4.0. statistical program. The results shows that reclamation area of post coal mining in the study site which is most suitable for local plant species, especially Shorea balangeran, has a sloping terrain. PCA shows that factor having maximum influence on growth of planted species on the reclamation site is pH of soil. The higher is the soil pH (i.e. less acid), the better is the species growth because the soil conditions in the post-coal mining area tend to be acidic. This research suggests that in post coal mining reclamation using native trees two key factors to enhance growth performance of planted species are sloping terrain so as water is not inundated and soil pH so as it is not too acid.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and Rhizobium enhance the growth of Samanea saman (trembesi) planted on gold-mine tailings in Pongkor, West Java, Indonesia

“…Nodule number/plant 24.0 a 20.0 a 52.0 b 22.0 a Note: Numbers followed by the different letters in the same line show significant differences based on the DMRT test with an error rate of 5% The 95% of survival rate of S. saman was greater than that was reported for other local plant species in West Kalimantan, such as Hevea brasiliensis, Archidendron pauciflorum, Shorea leprosula and Vitex pinnata (Ekyastuti et al, 2016;Jusran 2016). The dominance of plant species and the growth rate of certain plants in a mining area, especially tailings, is strongly influenced by the level of contamination, soil physical and chemical properties, the level of plant adaptation, and other environmental factors in mine tailings (Anawar et al, 2013;Ekyastuti et al, 2016;Setyaningsih 2018b, Lestari et al, 2019, including the adaptability of plants to limit the absorption of heavy metals at the roots (Reichman 2002;Setyaningsih et al, 2012) Dual inoculations with AMF and Rhizobium triggered a better growth of the S. saman seedlings than single inoculation treatment, as previously reported in a number of different plant species (Yaseen et al, 2016;Havugimana et al, 2016). AMF and Rhizobium inoculations can also play a pivotal role in increasing plant growth in areas with high heavy metal content through improved plant nutrition (Pierre et al, 2014).…”

“…Furthermore, if the mined land is previously a forested area, the post-mining reclamation would involve reforestation activities using groups of trees to recover the vegetation. Reforestation on post-mining land requires the right selection of type of plant to increase effectiveness and success of the reclamation (Lestari et al, 2019). The selected plants are expected to adapt with extreme biophysical soil conditions while at the same time it can help in remediation processes through the improvement of physical and chemical properties, as well as biological properties of the soil.…”

The effect of planting technique on the growth of two Shorea species in Gunung Dahu, Bogor, Indonesia

“…Kenzo et al (2011) stated that sunlight exposures enhanced the growth performance of Dipterocarp species under suitable planting conditions. Furthermore, Lestari et al (2019) stated that soil pH and sloping terrain could increase the growth performance of planted species in post-coal mining reclamation area in East Kalimantan. In this study, Shorea balangeran became one of the most suitable plant species to be planted in this area, especially in sloping terrain.…”

Growth Performance of Dipterocarp Species Planted on Abandoned Mining Area in Southern Thailand

“…However, the forest structure and diversity levels are usually low. As such, plantation using mixed species are then recommended for restoration of degraded lands, including at postmining sites (Lamb 2014), but the survival and growth rate of seedlings depend much on the tree species, environmental factors (Norisada et al 2005;Sakai et al 2014;Lestari et al 2019), and silvicultural practices (Sakai et al 2011;Sakai et al 2014). To recover the forest structure, diversity and functions, the restoration of mined out areas using indigenous tree species has been going on for a long time.…”