Vegetation
of calamine soils

and its importance
for biodiversity and landscape
conservation
in post-mining areas

Project

You will find here a detailed description of the project and its research issues

Project description

Project title

The project was registered as Vegetation of calamine soils and its importance for biodiversity and landscape conservation in post-mining areas under number MF EOG PL0265.

Keywords

Calamine vegetation, heavy metals, Olkusz Ore-bearing Region, opencast mining, post-mining areas, biodiversity, plant species richness, succession, soil fauna, soil microbial activity, physical and chemical properties of soil, recultivation, rehabilitation, spatial pattern, GIS, multidimensional analysis, geostatistics

Research objectives of the project

The aim of the project is to produce a full botanical and ecological description of the vegetation of the Olkusz Ore-bearing Region (OOR) - an area degraded by zinc and lead mining - and particularly the species composition, biodiversity and patchiness of plant communities, as well as the distribution and abundance of individual plant species.

Within the project the following will be determined: (1) how the above-mentioned characteristics depend on the spatial scale, variability of environmental factors (physical and chemical properties of soil, geology, topography, type of land use and terrain) and on interspecific relationships; (2) how they affect the biological activity of the soil and stabilisation of geochemical conditions of the substratum; and (3) what their role is for the rehabilitation of degraded landscapes.

Description of research problems

Theoretical background and the justification of undertaking research are given in other places in the form of brief essays: What do we know about plants of metalliferous sites? and Why are plant communities of calamine soil worthy of study?

Study area

The research are carried out in the eastern part of Małopolska Province (southern Poland), in the Olkusz Ore-bearing Region (between the towns and villages of Stary Olkusz, Bukowno, Krzykawa and Laski), in terrain altered by zinc and lead mining.

The study area will be limited to vegetation patches occurring in old excavations and mining waste disposal sites, and in the surroundings of these metalliferous areas.

Project performance

The geobotanical studies will cover an area of about 40 km2. Investigations will be carried out during the vegetative seasons in the course of three years, the objective being to note the greatest possible number of locations of individual plant species. The information collected will be used to make point maps presenting the spatial distribution of the more important representatives of Olkusz regional flora (plant species typical of the region, outstanding, rare, etc.). Another outcome of the studies will be identification and mapping of vegetation types (without strict reference to syntaxonomic classification).

In the same area, about 40 homogeneous vegetation patches (grasslands, meadows and forests) will be selected on the basis of information obtained from the orthophotomaps and from the field survey. Within the patches (sites) 9 study plots covering 1 m2 will be established. The plots will be distributed at regular 10 m intervals. The total number of them will be 400 to 600.

The following data will be determined for selected sites (vegetation patches):

  • - geographical coordinates of the site centre (GPS);
  • - vegetation age;
  • - altitude;
  • - variability of the temperature of topsoil layer (measured during summer months);
  • - species diversity and abundance of ectomycorrhizae of pines (for forest sites);
  • - dendrochronological analysis of pines (for forest sites).

The following parameters will be determined for study plots:

  • - complete list of species of flowering plants, pteridophytes, mosses and lichens occurring in an area of 1 m2, and their cover estimated on a scale of Braun-Blanquet;
  • - physicochemical properties of soil - moisture, soil granularity, pH, cation exchange capacity, content of nutrients (C, N, K, Na, Ca, Mg) and heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cd), including determination of the fraction of soluble forms;
  • - abundance of enchytraeid fauna;
  • - type of microbiological activity (using the BIOLOG method).

Spatial data will be stored in a GIS database. Its main information layers will be created on the basis of archival data of the Centre for Geodetic and Cartographic Documentation (WODGiK). These will be current 1:10,000-scale topographical maps of the area and 1:5000-scale orthophotomaps prepared in 2003 and projected using the 1992 system (one of the national systems of geographical coordinates).

Research questions

The more important of these are as follows:

  • - Is the species composition of the vegetation spontaneously colonising post-mining areas (grassland and meadow vegetation) unique? Does this vegetation differ from the vegetation developing outside metalliferous areas?
  • - Is the occurrence of species (of metalliferous areas) accidental or dependent on biotic and environmental factors?
  • - Does the species composition and biodiversity of grasslands, meadows, and forests depend on heavy metal content in the soil?
  • - Is the post-mining area spatially diversified in terms of plant biodiversity? Does the plant biodiversity depend on the type of vegetation or land use?
  • - Does the recultivation method consisting in afforestation contributes to the decrease of biodiversity?
  • - Are forest-park communities originating as the result of recultivation places where the native vegetation can develop?
  • - Do forest-park communities differ from grassland and meadow communities in terms of their effect on the physical and chemical properties of the substratum (e.g., soil pH)?
  • - Do forest-park communities differ from grassland and meadow communities in terms of their effect on the biological activity of soil (activity of microflora and soil mesofauna)?
  • - Are there any differences in their reaction to stress factors (e.g., heavy metal content of the soil, scarcity of nutrients, low soil moisture) between the spontaneously developing vegetation and the vegetation introduced as the result of recultivation?
  • - Do pine-dominated forest communities overgrowing soils with different levels of heavy metal contamination differ in species diversity and abundance of ectomycorrhizae?
  • - Do stress factors (e.g., heavy metal content, low moisture) affect the growth dynamics of pine?

Performers

The project is coordinated by Ecology Department (Institute of Botany PAS). The leader of the project is professor Barbara Godzik.

Leaders of research teams are:

  • - prof. Barbara Godzik (Institute of Botany PAS, Kraków)
    Research subject: Studies on species diversity of flowering plants and pteridophytes in the OOR;
  • - prof. Jan Holeksa (Institute of Botany PAS, Kraków)
    Research subject: Identification of the types of vegetation and mapping their distribution in the OOR;
  • - prof. Krystyna Grodzińska (Institute of Botany PAS, Kraków)
    Research subject: Studies on the small- and large-scale variability of species composition and the diversity of flowering plants, pteridophytes, bryophytes and lichens in about 40 homogenous vegetation patches in the OOR;
  • - dr. Grażyna Szarek-Łukaszewska (Instytut Botaniki PAN, Kraków), prof. Rolf D. Vogt (Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo)
    Research subject: Studies on the small- and large-scale variability of the physical and chemical properties of soil and other environmental factors in about 40 homogenous vegetation patches in the OOR;
  • - dr. Maria Niklińska (Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University)
    Research subject: Studies on the small- and large-scale variability of soil microbial activity in about 40 homogenous vegetation patches in the OOR;
  • - dr. Paweł Kapusta (Institute of Botany PAS, Kraków)
    Research subject: Studies on the small- and large-scale variability of the numbers of soil fauna (Enchytraeides) in about 40 homogenous vegetation patches in the OOR;
  • - dr. Piotr Mleczko (Institute of Botany, Jagiellonian University)
    Research subject: Studies of the species diversity and abundance of ectomycorrhizae of pine (Pinus sylvestris) in selected forest patches in the OOR;
  • - dr. Tomasz Zielonka (Institute of Botany PAS, Kraków)
    Research subject: Studies on the effect of environmental factors on the growth dynamics of pine (Pinus sylvestris) in selected forest patches in the OOR.

Funding

The project MF EOG PL0265 is supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area.