Long-term passive restoration following fluvial deposition of sulphidic copper tailings: nature filters out the solutions

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 23; no. 14; pp. 13672 - 13680
• Main Authors: Nikolic, Nina, Böcker, Reinhard, Nikolic, Miroslav
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-07-2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Abandoned mines; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Copper; Copper - analysis; Copper - chemistry; Copper - isolation & purification; Deposition; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecological succession; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental conditions; Environmental Health; Environmental restoration; Environmental Restoration and Remediation - methods; Environmental science; Filtration; Floodplains; Floods; Forests; How Can We Restore the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Mining and Industrial Sites?; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Mine tailings; Mining; Nutrient concentrations; Nutrient deficiency; Plant Development; Pollution; River ecology; Rivers - chemistry; Soil - chemistry; Soil analysis; Soil contamination; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Soil Pollutants - chemistry; Soil Pollutants - isolation & purification; Studies; Sulfides - chemistry; Toxicity; Vegetation; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Novel ecosystem; Spontaneous restoration; Nutrient deficiency; Cu toxicity; Environmental filtering; Post-mining land; Alluvial forests; Soil acidity; Ecological restoration; Primary vegetation succession
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-5205-0

Despite the growing popularity of ecological restoration approach, data on primary succession on toxic post-mining substrates, under site environmental conditions which considerably differ from the surrounding environment, are still scarce. Here, we studied the spontaneous vegetation development on an unusual locality created by long-term and large-scale fluvial deposition of sulphidic tailings from a copper mine in a pronouncedly xerothermic, calcareous surrounding. We performed multivariate analyses of soil samples (20 physical and chemical parameters) and vegetation samples (floristic and structural parameters in three types of occurring forests), collected along the pollution gradients throughout the affected floodplain. The nature can cope with two types of imposed constraints: (a) excessive Cu concentrations and (b) very low pH, combined with nutrient deficiency. The former will still allow convergence to the original vegetation, while the latter will result in novel, depauperate assemblages of species typical for cooler and moister climate. Our results for the first time demonstrate that with the increasing severity of environmental filtering, the relative importance of the surrounding vegetation for primary succession strongly decreases.