The concept of reclamation in the life sciences to new environmental challenges

Abstract

It has been believed that mining activities have always and exclusively caused large changes in the environment, including the impoverishment of plant cover, the animal world and the transformation of water resources. This makes that post-industrial areas (including post-mining and after-care) have been classified as degraded or even devastated. According to this approach a further use of these areas is not possible without reclamation and restoration or even creating a use value. In extreme cases, these were not the objective values of biological parameters, but the administrative and legal classification which determined the biological and natural environment. Effective methods of post-industrial area use as well as directions referring to this are extremely important because they can restore the new utility value to the area and they can enable the use of areas after the exploitation of mineral resources as unique plant habitats. Long-term reclamation activities limit the effects of global change mitigation. This article presents technical and agricultural aspects of the concept of reclamation and determine where its place in biological sciences is.

Keywords

• reclamation
• degraded areas
• soil
• global change
• oligotrophic mineral habitats
• biological sciences