Can Soil Properties Determine Vegetation of Spontaneously Recovered Postmined Areas? Case Study of Limestone Quarry Mokrá

Abstract

Abstract

The role of soil properties for vegetation development during early spontaneous succession was studied in a limestone quarry Mokrá (south Moravia, Czech Republic). In particular, we would like to detect the soil environment features supporting the swards formation of expansive reed grass (Calamagrostis epigejos), which is able to arrest a succession process. Research was conducted along postmined quarry benches, where natural recovery took place. We examined water–air regime, soil organic carbon (SOC) content, total nitrogen content (Ntot), content of available calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), soil reaction (pH), and soil texture of soil samples collected separately from assemblages with abundant reed grass and without them, usually with the occurrence of tall oat grass (Arrhenatherum elatius). A multivariate statistical approach revealed the fact that soil texture, SOC, Ntot, and water–air regime were statistically significant for the vegetation types. Reed grass prefers fine grained soils with higher amount of clay and silt particles, whereas assemblages without abundant presence of this species settled coarse grained soils with higher sand or skeleton content. High SOC and Ntot values were also associated with sites covered with reed grass. Therefore, using these variables as a measure of recovery success in early succession might be a problem.