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An Assessment of Spontaneous Vegetation Recovery in Aggregate Quarries in Coastal Sand Dunes in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina

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Abstract

Sand dune quarries are a location of common aggregate mining activity developed in coastal areas, especially in the southeast Buenos Aires province, Argentina. In this article, spontaneous plant development after extraction activity ceased was evaluated. Five areas (three quarried and two natural/conservation areas) were sampled for plant cover and composition as well as sediment characterization. Different indexes, principal component analysis, and cluster analyses were applied to compare the areas. The dominant families observed in four of the five areas were Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Cyperaceae, and most of the species are commonly found in sandy and humid soils and/or modified/anthropized ones. Percentages of plant cover increased with time because of the cessation of active aggregate extraction. Indexes and multivariate analyses showed that it was possible to distinguish quarried and natural areas based on composition and vegetation cover. The distribution of plant species among the four areas responded to the presence of mining activity, but it also responded to the topographical position and consequently the depth of the groundwater level. Besides these differences, the four areas shared many native species. The results might indicate that once the activity has ceased, quarried areas may spontaneously and quickly develop a plant community with some similarities to those present in the nonquarried areas. However, given that the extracting activity involves the removal of the soil, revegetation of this type of environment depends on the presence of natural areas in the surroundings, which can serve as a source of seeds and propagules for plant regeneration.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National University of Mar del Plata (UNMdP-EXA 403/08 and 488/10).The authors thank Margarita Olegaria Arbeláiz/Arenera Querandí S.A. for facilitating access to the study area and Maria Clara del Río and Brian Harkins for language assessment. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers for comments and suggestions on previous versions of the manuscript.

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  1. Instituto de Geología de Costas y del Cuaternario, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, 7600, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    María Victoria Fernández Montoni, Mariana Fernández Honaine & Julio Luis del Río

  2. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC)-Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Mariana Fernández Honaine

  3. CONICET, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Mariana Fernández Honaine

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  1. María Victoria Fernández Montoni
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  2. Mariana Fernández Honaine
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Correspondence to Mariana Fernández Honaine.

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Fernández Montoni, M.V., Fernández Honaine, M. & del Río, J.L. An Assessment of Spontaneous Vegetation Recovery in Aggregate Quarries in Coastal Sand Dunes in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Environmental Management 54, 180–193 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-014-0275-1

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