Long‐term vegetation recovery on reclaimed coal surface mines in the eastern USA

Abstract

Summary1. While reclamation of degraded landscapes is becoming increasingly common, few studies have investigated the long-term effects of reclamation efforts on plant conservation. The goals of this study were to determine whether vegetation communities on reclaimed mines approximate those of the surrounding forest, and to evaluate how intensive reclamation practices used to address short-term erosion and water quality concerns affect long-term recovery. 2. In 1992-93 and 1999 the vegetation on 15 coal surface mines reclaimed between the years 1967-87, and five periodically logged hardwood forest reference sites in southwestern Virginia, were surveyed. 3. Herbaceous species richness was similar on all sites, whereas woody species richness was higher in reference sites than in reclaimed sites. 4. Vegetation community composition on reclaimed sites continued to progress towards reference forest sites between the two sampling periods, but vegetation community composition even on the oldest sites (reclaimed > 35 years prior) still differed substantially from reference sites. 5. Herbaceous cover was higher and tree basal area was lower in reclaimed sites compared with reference sites at the first sampling period, but these differences were much less pronounced by the second sampling period. 6. The overall composition of the older reclaimed sites was similar to the reference forest sites, suggesting a high level of resilience in the forests studied. But, as with a number of previous studies of long-term recovery on highly disturbed sites, a number of less common forest species still had not colonized reclaimed sites, raising the question of their value for conservation. 7. These results concur with a common theme that goals for short-term and long-term recovery of highly disturbed sites may conflict. Planting with aggressive non-native ground cover species to minimize short-term erosion may have slowed long-term recovery on the sites studied. Widespread planting of Pinus strobus has not reduced species richness thus far, but may as the canopy closes. More emphasis should be given to longterm recovery potential in developing mine reclamation plans, and strategies to further this goal should be tested.

Mountaintop Removal Mining and Catchment Hydrology

“…This methodology resulted in heavily compacted soils often lacking organic matter and competitive groundcovers that prevented natural succession, growth, and survival of native trees species [45,72]. Natural succession from adjacent forest land has occurred, but the overall basal area and species diversity lagged behind natural forests, even after decades [73]. Thus, the predominant state of reclaimed surface mines across Appalachia is grasslands with heavily compacted soils with limited to no tree growth.…”

Testing heterogeneity–diversity relationships in tropical forest restoration

“…In turn, studies documenting natural forest recovery show that heterogeneity of habitat structure and species distributions increase over time (Denslow and Guzman 2000;Guariguata and Ostertag 2001;Cook et al 2005), but still are often lower in older secondary forests than in primary forests (Nicotra et al 1999;Flinn and Marks 2007). Restoration efforts across a range of systems have often failed to restore heterogeneity of abiotic conditions and community composition approaching that of more intact systems (Holl 2002b;Polley et al 2005). These shortcomings highlight the need for new approaches that create more heterogeneous habitats, particularly in highly diverse systems, such as tropical forests.…”

Effects of regenerating vegetation on soil enzyme activity and microbial structure in reclaimed soils on a surface coal mine site

“…Mining activities have produced great damage to eco-environment, and legal requirements to reclaim highly disturbed lands are becoming increasingly common (Holl, 2002). Soil enzyme activities and microbial properties have increasingly been used indicators of soil quality to evaluate the success of reclamation efforts (Ciarkowska et al, 2014;Li et al, 2013bSchimann et al, 2012.…”