Vegetative functional traits guide plant species selection for initial mineland rehabilitation

Gastauer, Markus; Sarmento, Priscila Sanjuan de Medeiros; Santos, Vitor Cirilo Araujo; Caldeira, Cecílio Fróis; Ramos, Sílvio Júnio; Teodoro, Grazielle Sales; Siqueira, José Oswaldo

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2020.105763

Cited by 37 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…Species with such carbon assimilation rates are able to produce a substantial biomass and might contribute to the incorporation of large amounts of organic carbon into the ground, enhancing nutrient cycling, and soil and water qualities, which are essential for the recruitment and establishment of other plants and the return of wildlife. Moreover, native species are usually well adapted to local environmental conditions [ 56 ]. Such adaptability, already observed for both species under natural conditions [ 20 ] and now highlighted for P. cinerascens in mining waste substrates, are advantageous for the colonization of degraded areas such as those found after mining in the eastern Amazon.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native Amazonian Canga Grasses Show Distinct Nitrogen Growth Responses in Iron Mining Substrates

Caldeira¹,

Lima²,

Ramos³

et al. 2021

Plants

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Native species may have adaptive traits that are advantageous for overcoming the adverse environmental conditions faced during the early stages of mine land rehabilitation. Here, we examined the nitrogen (N) growth responses of two native perennial grasses (Axonopus longispicus and Paspalum cinerascens) from canga in nutrient-poor iron mining substrates. We carried out vegetative propagation and recovered substantial healthy tillers from field-collected tussocks of both species. These tillers were cultivated in mining substrates at increasing N levels. The tillering rates of both species increased with the N application. Nonetheless, only in P. cinerascens did the N application result in significant biomass increase. Such growth gain was a result of changes in leaf pigment, stomatal morphology, gas exchanges, and nutrients absorption that occurred mainly under the low N additions. Reaching optimum growth at 80 mg N dm−3, these plants showed no differences from those in the field. Our study demonstrates that an input of N as fertilizer can differentially improve the growth of native grasses and that P. cinerascens plants are able to deposit high quantities of carbon and protect soil over the seasons, thus, making them promising candidates for restoring nutrient cycling, accelerating the return of other species and ecosystem services.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Native Amazonian Canga Grasses Show Distinct Nitrogen Growth Responses in Iron Mining Substrates

Caldeira¹,

Lima²,

Ramos³

et al. 2021

Plants

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“…Surprisingly, none of the planted species were associated with the community composition as indicator species of the planted areas. The survival of seedlings in the early phase of restoration can be a critical factor for the success of active methods (Charles 2018; Gastauer et al 2020), especially for the late‐successional species, which tend to have significantly reduced survival rates in the first years (Ramírez‐Marcial et al 2010; Coelho et al 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoring riparian forest in the Atlantic Forest: does planting seedlings make a difference?

Inhamuns

Rezende

Coelho

2021

Restoration Ecology

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Planting seedlings remains the most popular method of forest restoration, but passive restoration may become a new promise to reduce costs, despite concerns about its efficacy. Here, we present a study of a riparian forest recovery program in the Southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil. The objective was to compare planting seedlings and passive restoration eight years since restoration started and assess the influence of cattle presence in the restoring areas. We analyzed the structure, diversity, and composition of the woody community in the upper (canopy) and lower strata (understory) versus six environmental variables, including edaphic, landscape and geographical variables, restoration method (planting seedlings versus passive restoration), presence of cattle inside the restoration areas, and presence of adjacent crop plantations. Passive restoration generated a more diverse woody community and a higher proportion of climax and zoochoric species in the lower stratum than active restoration. Cattle presence was significantly associated with lower species richness and density of plants, as well as a higher proportion of pioneer species and low proportion of zoochoric and climax species. The results suggest that cattle can delay forest succession, besides reducing diversity. Passive restoration should be considered suitable for the region, and the efficiency of cattle exclusion needs to be improved.

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“…The ecology of plants growing on ironstone outcrops is virtually unknown. Despite recent studies addressing the restoration of open cast mining, we still lack a broad understanding on basic aspects of seed ecology of ironstone outcrop endemics because species prioritization studies have overlooked seed functional traits (e.g., Giannini et al, 2016;Zappi et al, 2018;Gastauer et al, 2020, but see Ramos et al, 2019).…”

Section: Study Site Study Species and Seed Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed Functional Traits Provide Support for Ecological Restoration and ex situ Conservation in the Threatened Amazon Ironstone Outcrop Flora

et al. 2020

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Cangas (ironstone outcrops) host a specialized flora, characterized by high degree of edaphic endemism and an apparent lack of natural history knowledge of its flora. Due to intense pressure from iron ore mining this ecosystem is under threat and in need of restoration. We studied seed functional traits that are relevant for restoration, translocation and ex situ conservation in 48 species from cangas in eastern Amazon. Were determined the thermal niche breadth, classified seed dormancy and determined methods to overcome it, determined the effect of seed storage on germination, tested the association between germination traits and functional groups, and tested whether seed traits are phylogenetically conserved. We found a broad interspecific variation in most seed traits, except for seed water content. Large interspecific variation in the temperature niche breadth was found among the studied species, but only four species, showed optimum germination at high temperatures of 35–40°C, despite high temperatures under natural conditions. Only 35% of the studied species produced dormant seeds. Mechanical scarification was effective in overcoming physical dormancy and application of gibberellic acid was effective in overcoming physiological dormancy in five species. For the 29 species that seeds were stored for 24 months, 76% showed decreases in the germination percentage. The weak association between germination traits and life-history traits indicate that no particular plant functional type requires specific methods for seed-based translocations. Exceptions were the lianas which showed relatively larger seeds compared to the other growth-forms. Dormancy was the only trait strongly related to phylogeny, suggesting that phylogenetic relatedness may not be a good predictor of regeneration from seeds in cangas. Our study provides support to better manage seed sourcing, use, storage and enhancement techniques with expected reduced costs and increased seedling establishment success.

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Vegetative functional traits guide plant species selection for initial mineland rehabilitation

Cited by 37 publications

References 84 publications

Native Amazonian Canga Grasses Show Distinct Nitrogen Growth Responses in Iron Mining Substrates

Native Amazonian Canga Grasses Show Distinct Nitrogen Growth Responses in Iron Mining Substrates

Restoring riparian forest in the Atlantic Forest: does planting seedlings make a difference?

Seed Functional Traits Provide Support for Ecological Restoration and ex situ Conservation in the Threatened Amazon Ironstone Outcrop Flora

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