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Restoration of areas degraded by alluvial sand mining: use of soil microbiological activity and plant biomass growth to assess evolution of restored riparian vegetation

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Abstract

River or alluvial sand mining is causing a variety of environmental problems in the Itajaí-açú river basin in Santa Catarina State (south of Brazil). When this type of commercial activity degrades areas around rivers, environmental restoration programs need to be executed. In this context, the aim of this study was to assess the evolution of a restored riparian forest based on data on the soil microbial activity and plant biomass growth. A reference site and three sites with soil degradation were studied over a 3-year period. Five campaigns were performed to determine the hydrolysis of the soil enzyme fluorescein diacetate (FDA), and the biomass productivity was determined at the end of the studied period. The variation in the enzyme activity for the different campaigns at each site was low, but this parameter did differ significantly according to the site. Well-managed sites showed the highest biomass productivity, and this, in turn, showed a strong positive correlation with soil enzyme activity. In conclusion, soil enzyme activity could form the basis for monitoring and the early prediction of the success of vegetal restoration programs, since responses at the higher level of biological organization take longer, inhibiting the assessment of the project within an acceptable time frame.

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Acknowledgements

C.M. Radetski gratefully acknowledges the grants awarded by CNPq-Brazilian National. Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Grant No. 302798/2013-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Conservação, Gestão e Governança Costeira, UNIVALI—Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC, 88302-202, Brazil

    Graziela R. Venson, Rosemeri C. Marenzi & Alexandre Deschamps-Schmidt

  2. Laboratório de Ecologia de Comunidades, UNIVALI—Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC, 88302-202, Brazil

    Tito César M. Almeida

  3. Laboratório de Remediação Ambiental, UNIVALI—Universidade do Vale do Itajaí, Rua Uruguai, 458, Itajaí, SC, 88302-202, Brazil

    Renan C. Testolin & Claudemir M. Radetski

  4. Laboratório de Ficologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Campus Trindade, Florianópolis, SC, 88040-970, Brazil

    Leonardo R. Rörig

Authors
  1. Graziela R. Venson
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  2. Rosemeri C. Marenzi
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  3. Tito César M. Almeida
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  4. Alexandre Deschamps-Schmidt
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  5. Renan C. Testolin
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  6. Leonardo R. Rörig
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  7. Claudemir M. Radetski
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Correspondence to Claudemir M. Radetski.

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Venson, G.R., Marenzi, R.C., Almeida, T.C.M. et al. Restoration of areas degraded by alluvial sand mining: use of soil microbiological activity and plant biomass growth to assess evolution of restored riparian vegetation. Environ Monit Assess 189, 120 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-5852-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-5852-3

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