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Earthworm responses to different reclamation processes in post opencast mining lands during succession

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Abstract

This study provides earthworm population data obtained from localities with a substantial anthropogenic impact spoils. The spoil heaps were reclaimed at the end of an opencast brown coal mining period. We studied spoils reclaimed by the two most commonly used reclamation processes: forestry and agricultural. The results show the significance of the locality age and the utilized reclamation process and treatment and their effect on earthworm communities. Our data indicate that apart from soil physical and chemical properties, the reclamation process itself may also induce viability and distribution of earthworm communities. Under standardized soil properties, the changes in earthworm populations during the succession were larger within the agricultural reclamation process as opposed to the forestry reclamation process for earthworm ecological groups and individual species.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Christopher Ash for text revision. We thank the Czech Coal Group Company for permission to use reclaimed areas in this research. The study was supported by the “S-grant” of The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Fisheries, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Praha 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Jakub Hlava & Anna Hlavová

  2. Department of Forage Crops and Grassland Management, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Praha 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Josef Hakl

  3. Department of Soil Science and Soil Protection, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Praha 6 - Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Miroslav Fér

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  1. Jakub Hlava
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Correspondence to Jakub Hlava.

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Hlava, J., Hlavová, A., Hakl, J. et al. Earthworm responses to different reclamation processes in post opencast mining lands during succession. Environ Monit Assess 187, 4108 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-014-4108-8

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