Small Mammal Response to Vegetation and Spoil Conditions on a Reclaimed Surface Mine in Eastern Kentucky

Larkin, Jeffery L.; Maehr, David S.; Krupa, James J.; Cox, John J.; Alexy, Karen J.; Unger, David E.; Barton, Christopher D.

doi:10.1656/1528-7092-7.3.401

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Given very low survival of our unsheltered trees, it seems likely that conditions on our site were less suitable than these others. Small mammals (e.g., mice and voles) are known to utilize end-dumped spoil piles as habitat [29] and are suspected to be responsible for predating on unprotected chestnut seeds in this study. We note that average mortality in sheltered trees has increased only slightly since the end of the first growing season, suggesting that the critical time period for chestnut survival in our study was during germination and early establishment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evaluating the Use of Tree Shelters for Direct Seeding of Castanea on a Surface Mine in Appalachia

Barton

Miller

Sena

et al. 2015

Forests

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American chestnut (Castanea dentata), once a primary constituent of the eastern hardwood forest ecosystem, was nearly extirpated from the forest canopy by the accidental introduction of chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica). An intensive breeding program has sought to breed blight resistance from Chinese chestnut into American chestnuts, while maintaining as much of the desirable American chestnut phenotypes as possible. Previous studies suggest that these blight resistant American chestnuts, termed "restoration chestnuts", are capable of thriving on reclaimed surface mines. We direct seeded pure Chinese, pure American, and three backcross lines into brown sandstone minesoil on a mine site in Pike County, KY. To investigate the effects of tree sheltering on survival and growth, we installed tree shelters on half the plots, and left the rest of the plots unsheltered. Results indicated that shelters were highly effective at reducing initial mortality. In addition, while pure Chinese chestnut survival was highest, the three backcross lines have also survived well on this site. Our study demonstrates that American, Chinese, and backcrossed chestnuts can survive through five growing seasons on reclaimed surface mines with the use of tree shelters. OPEN ACCESSForests 2015, 6 3515

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Evaluating the Use of Tree Shelters for Direct Seeding of Castanea on a Surface Mine in Appalachia

Barton

Miller

Sena

et al. 2015

Forests

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“…In the CNF, most of the impacts are related to removal of vegetation, since the extractions are achieved with surface operations, or “open pit mines”. The mining process radically modifies the microhabitat complexity [6], leading not only to habitat loss but the addition of new structures, such as drainage ditch networks [7]. These drainage ditches make topographic gaps across the surfaces of deforested land, which are widely used by non-volant small mammals [6,8,9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently only a few studies have been conducted (mainly in the United States), including research on the small mammal communities in areas previously mined in Pennsylvania [8], Ohio [10], Colorado [9], the northern plains of the US [11], areas recovered from mining in southern West Virginia [12], southeastern Virginia [13], and eastern Kentucky [6]. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity and Impacts of Mining on the Non-Volant Small Mammal Communities of Two Vegetation Types in the Brazilian Amazon

Ardente¹,

Ferreguetti²,

Gettinger³

et al. 2016

PLoS ONE

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The Carajás National Forest contains some of the largest iron ore deposits in the world. The majority of the minerals are found below a plant community known as Savana Metalófila, or “Canga”, which represents only 3% of the landscape within the Carajás National Forest (CNF). The aim of our study was to understand the diversity of community of non-volant small mammals in the two predominant vegetation types: Ombrophilous Forest and Canga, and to examine how mining impacts these communities. Sampling was conducted from January 2010 to August 2011 in 11 sampling sites divided by the total area of Canga and 12 sampling sites in the forest, totalizing 23 sites. Of these, 12 sites (Canga and Forest) were considered impacted areas located close to the mine (<< 900 meters) and 11 sites (Canga and Forest), serving as controls, which were at least 7,000 meters from the mine. We recorded 28 species, 11 from the Order Didelphimorphia and 17 from the Order Rodentia. The two forest types shared 68.42% of the species found in the CNF. A gradient analysis (Non-metric multidimensional scaling) revealed that the first axis clearly separated the non-flying small mammal communities by vegetation type. Occupancy models showed that the detectability of species was affected by the distance from the mining activities. Of all the small mammals analyzed, 10 species were positively affected by the distance from mining in areas impacted (e.g. more likely to be detected farther from mining areas) and detectability was lower in impacted areas. However, three species were negatively affected by the distance from mining, with higher detectability in the impacted areas, and seven species showed no effect of their proximity to mining operations. To date, there are no studies in Brazil about the impact of mining on mammals or other vertebrates. This study reveals that the effect of mining may go beyond the forest destruction caused by the opening of the mining pits, but also may negatively affect sensitive wildlife species.

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“…Two of the species, S. funerarius and B. tarsata were also limited by their requirements for low soil compactness, whereas A. pubescens utilized soils with high compactness (Fig. 3c), which were present in excess (Bláha 1992) similarly to other areas affected by mining (Larkin et al 2008;Haigh et al 2010, Shrestha andLal 2011). The last variable, soil cohesiveness, was found to drive differentially the level of gregariousness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Nesting habitat segregation between closely related terricolous sphecid species (Hymenoptera:Spheciformes): key role of soil physical characteristics

Srba

Heneberg

2011

J Insect Conserv

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Microhabitat selection based on abiotic factors was examined in five species of digger wasps (Sphex funerarius, Ammophila heydeni, Ammophila pubescens, Ammophila sabulosa, Bembix tarsata), four of which are of high conservation interest. All the study sites were located in areas affected by anthropogenic disturbance (reclaimed brown-coal mining areas, and railway dykes) in Central Europe. The individual species responded differentially to the variability in each of the physical characteristics measured, which resulted in site-specific exclusion of individual sphecid species. The sphecids were found to discriminate between available microhabitats based on ground inclination (slope) and vegetation cover. All but A. heydeni segregated the microhabitats according to the content of gravel and sand particles. S. funerarius and B. tarsata were limited by their preferences of low soil compactness, whereas A. pubescens utilized highly compacted soils, which were predominant in the study area. Soil shear strength (cohesiveness) was driving the level of gregariousness of the sphecids. In B. tarsata, number of cells per burrow was found to be higher in soils with increased penetration resistance. Experimental increase in soil compactness led to the abandonment of nesting microhabitats in the subsequent nesting seasons. Besides the well-known biotic factors, such as specialization at different size or type of prey, variability in abiotic factors between individual microhabitats (e.g. patches of sand) was found to be both necessary and sufficient to allow the parallel presence of viable populations of several sphecid species.

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Small Mammal Response to Vegetation and Spoil Conditions on a Reclaimed Surface Mine in Eastern Kentucky

Cited by 26 publications

References 18 publications

Evaluating the Use of Tree Shelters for Direct Seeding of Castanea on a Surface Mine in Appalachia

Evaluating the Use of Tree Shelters for Direct Seeding of Castanea on a Surface Mine in Appalachia

Diversity and Impacts of Mining on the Non-Volant Small Mammal Communities of Two Vegetation Types in the Brazilian Amazon

Nesting habitat segregation between closely related terricolous sphecid species (Hymenoptera:Spheciformes): key role of soil physical characteristics

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