Plant Community Hemeroby is a Reliable Indicator of the Dynamics of Reclamation of Lands Disturbed by Mining

Abstract

Reliable indicators of success are needed to monitor the process of reclaiming disturbed land in order to understand the achievement of reclamation objectives. The formation of coherent dynamics of vegetation and soil development is ultimately a crucial condition for the success of reclaiming territory disturbed by surface mining and the possibility of using reclaimed land in agricultural production. The study revealed a relationship between the phytoindicator of vegetation hemeroby and the physical properties of technosols to prove its application as a measure of the restoration of the disturbed ecosystem in the reclamation process. The plant communities were classified into beta-, alpha-euhemerobic, polyhemerobic and metahemerobic levels of anthropogenic transformation. The technosols varied in the proportion of hemeroby levels of plant communities. The hemeroby level was consistent with the physical properties of technosols. A decrease in hemeroby level resulted in increased soil electrical conductivity, decreased soil penetration resistance and altered soil aggregate structure. The hemeroby of plant communities is a dependable phytoindicator of ecosystem restoration during reclamation.

Keywords

• soil compaction
• floodplain
• soil penetration resistance
• aggregate structure
• soil electrical conductivity
• plant community
• phytoindication
• naturalness