Mine completion criteria defined by best-practice: A global meta-analysis and Western Australian case studies

Manero, Ana; Standish, Rachel J.; Young, Renee

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111912

Cited by 16 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…This work represents an important step towards a reduced-complexity microbiota-based monitoring and evaluation framework consistent with many best practice principles for setting, monitoring and managing towards mine completion criteria recommended by (Manero, Standish & Young 2021). We anticipate that our approach could be expanded to other eDNA sequence-based survey data (e.g., fungal ITS and eukaryote 18S rRNA marker genes, functional potential from shotgun metagenomics), and may have broader applicability for evaluating rehabilitation progress beyond post-mining contexts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Reference ecosystems provide an important basis for establishing targets and monitoring progress of restoration activities (Gann et al 2019) (SI Appendix, Figure S1). In post-mining contexts, best practice guidelines require formal mine completion criteria to be prescribed in a matter that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) (Australian_Government 2016;Manero, Standish & Young 2021). To-date, completion criteria have largely focussed on vegetation community variables, with typical ecological measures including alpha and beta diversity reflecting the number of different taxa and community composition, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, targets may be set at a minimum threshold similarity to a reference community. Despite available guidance, many completion criteria are ambiguous or ill-defined, and can result in unclear standards for regulators, unrealistic expectations for stakeholders, and represent a key barrier to the relinquishment of minesites (Manero, Standish & Young 2021). To help move the industry towards improved definitions of completion criteria, Manero, Standish and Young (2021) suggest criteria for industry best practice, which include using multiple reference sites, monitoring and corrective actions (i.e., adaptive management), allowing innovation-guided completion criteria, and specific objectives and indicators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Next generation restoration metrics: Using soil eDNA bacterial community data to measure trajectories towards rehabilitation targets

Liddicoat

Krauss

Bissett

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Soil microbiota are fundamentally linked to the restoration of degraded ecosystems, as they are central to important ecological functions including the support of plant communities. High throughput sequencing of environmental DNA used to characterise soil microbiota offers promise to monitor ecological progress towards reference states. In post-mining rehabilitation, successful mine closure planning requires specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) completion criteria, such as returning ecological communities to match a target level of similarity to reference sites. We analysed patterns of surface soil bacterial community similarity to reference ('rehabilitation trajectory') data from three long-term (> 25 year) post-mining rehabilitation chronosequence case studies from south-west Western Australia. We examined the influence of different ecological distance measures, sequence grouping approaches, and eliminating rare taxa on rehabilitation trajectories and predicted recovery times. We also explored the issue of spatial autocorrelation in our rehabilitation trajectory assessments and trialled a first-pass approach for correcting its undue influence. We found considerable variation in bacterial communities among reference sites within each case study minesite, providing valuable context for setting targets and evaluating recovery. Median Bray-Curtis similarities among references within each minesite ranged from 30-36%, based on amplicon sequence variant-level data. Median predicted times for rehabilitated sites to recover to these levels ranged from around 40 to over 100 years. We discuss strengths and limitations of the different approaches and offer recommendations to improve the robustness of this assessment method. Synthesis and applications. We demonstrate a proof-of-concept, complexity-reducing application of soil eDNA sequence-based surveys of bacterial communities in restoration chronosequence studies to quantitatively assess progress towards reference communities and corresponding rehabilitation targets. Our method provides a step towards developing microbiota-based SMART metrics for measuring rehabilitation success in post-mining, and potentially other, restoration contexts. Our approach enables prediction of recovery time, explicitly including uncertainty in assessments, and assists examination of potential barriers to ecological recovery, including biologically-associated variation in soil properties.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Next generation restoration metrics: Using soil eDNA bacterial community data to measure trajectories towards rehabilitation targets

Liddicoat

Krauss

Bissett

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…However, adding fertilizer to stimulate plant growth is often a key aspect of post mining restoration and is recommended as best practice in policy guidelines (e.g., EPA, 1995;Minerals Council of South Africa, 2007;Tibbett, 2010;DFAT, 2016). Further, many formal closure criteria and regulatory conditions require outcomes such as minimum levels of plant cover (e.g., Kragt et al, 2019;Manero et al, 2021) -and applying fertilizer can help achieve these goals. While well meaning, there is a risk that these guidelines focus too narrowly on short-term outcomes such as cover, with scant consideration to longer-term impacts on plant community assembly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Canary in the coal mine: Lessons from the Jarrah Forest suggest long-term negative effects of phosphorus fertilizer on biodiverse restoration after surface mining

Daws¹,

Blackburn²,

Standish³

et al. 2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Despite nutrient enrichment having widely reported negative impacts on biodiversity, fertilizer is routinely applied in post mining restoration to enhance plant growth and establishment. Focusing on surface mine restoration (predominately bauxite and mineral sands), we outline the long-term negative impacts of fertilizer, particularly phosphorus fertilizer, on plant community composition, species richness, fire fuel loads, and belowground impacts on nutrient-cycling. We draw from extensive research in south-western Australia and further afield, noting the geographical coincidence of surface mining, phosphorus impoverished soil and high plant biodiversity. We highlight the trade-offs between rapid plant-growth under fertilisation and the longer-term effects on plant communities and diversity. We note that the initial growth benefits of fertilisation may not persist in water-limited environments: growth of unfertilised forests can eventually match that of fertilised forest, throwing doubt on the premise that fertilisation is necessary at all.

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“…Scenario forecasts of the ratio of the ecological (carbon) footprint and biocapacity of territories by 2050, monitoring and accounting of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere, carbon capture by various natural systems, creation of carbon farms and test sites [2], inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in managed forests are becoming the subject of scientific research. While society moves towards zero carbon by 2030 and 2050, the role of the use of the world's best environmental practices for mine reclamation [3][4][5] and biodiversity conservation is growing. The authors consider the possibilities of sustainable development of Kuzbass, taking into account the previously identified decoupling effect in the field of coal mining in terms of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere [6], and detail the analysis of the relationship between the increase in coal production and the area of mined land.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-carbon development of Kuzbass: coal mining and land reclamation

2021

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The purpose of the study is to examine the adaptation of coal mining enterprises to the requirements of the Climate Agenda and the prospects for a low-carbon future of the Kuzbass region. The subject of the research is the impact of coal mining on the conservation of the region’s biocapacity and the future "green" development of Kuzbass on the basis of mine reclamation. The following tasks are tackled: 1. to show the role of mining enterprises in the movement of the region's economy towards a low-carbon future, 2. to determine the relationship between the coal production and the area of mined lands for the period 2013-2019, 3. to reveal the need to increase the mine reclamation rate and conserve the biodiversity of the region's ecosystem, 4. to forecast the growth of the area of mined land with an increase in coal production of more than 300 million tons, provided that the current socio-economic situation in the region remains unchanged. Research methods are elements of a systems approach, regression analysis, building a one-factor linear regression model using the IBM SPSS Statistics software.

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Mine completion criteria defined by best-practice: A global meta-analysis and Western Australian case studies

Cited by 16 publications

References 74 publications

Next generation restoration metrics: Using soil eDNA bacterial community data to measure trajectories towards rehabilitation targets

Next generation restoration metrics: Using soil eDNA bacterial community data to measure trajectories towards rehabilitation targets

Canary in the coal mine: Lessons from the Jarrah Forest suggest long-term negative effects of phosphorus fertilizer on biodiverse restoration after surface mining

Low-carbon development of Kuzbass: coal mining and land reclamation

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