Publication Date:
2018-03-06
Description:
Long-term potentials and constraints of Nature to spontaneously recover after severe degradation by toxic mine waste, and general principles of mutual modifications of spontaneous vegetation and soils during this process, have remained widely unknown. This study investigates the effect of flooding on natural regeneration of a model locality in Eastern Serbia, complexly degraded by fluvial deposition of sulphidic copper (Cu) mine tailings deposited during 70 years in a floodplain along 80 km of the polluted river flow. We analysed multivariate response of forest vegetation (floristic and structural parameters) together with physical and chemical properties of concomitant soils and sediments. Floods strongly modify the interactions between soil and vegetation. Three very different types of forest vegetation constitute the response of the Nature to key soil adverse factors (excessive Cu availability, low nutrients and low pH); combined with drought, these constraint completely inhibit revegetation. Continual flooding after mine closure, despite the pollution it still brings in, fosters the faster development of highly specialized vegetation, and most importantly faster buildup of soil organic matter necessary for phytostabilization of substantial amounts of Cu tailings present in the floodplain. We show that enhanced nutrient fluxes facilitated by natural flooding regime might overrun the constraining effect of deposited Cu also natural vegetation.
Print ISSN:
1085-3278
Electronic ISSN:
1099-145X
Topics:
Geography
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Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
