Any newly created area includes human-created habitats such as the mineral material of post-coal mining spoil heaps undergoing natural colonization and ecosystem development during the succession processes of vegetation colonization. The study of the factors that influence the succession dynamics, and the mechanisms behind this, have a long history (including the species-area relationship or Arrhenius equation). Nevertheless, the list of scientific questions is increasing. One of the significant issues in the study of these processes is the relationship between factors influencing the Biodiversity–Ecosystem Functioning (BEF) relationships. The main prerequisite is the relationships between the plant species' assemblage mechanisms including diversity and the variety of assembly rules concerning the environmental abiotic habitat processes and these properties are not straightforward. At the large scale, parameters such as age and area of the colonized sites are considered to be important. These relationships are more complicated in newly established post-mineral excavation habitats where novel ecosystems are developing. Regardless of the degree of disturbances, vegetation re-establishes in such environments, as a result of spontaneous succession, by the colonization and establishment of the best-adapted organisms. In the habitats of post-coal mining spoil heaps with pure oligotrophic mineral conditions, the non-analogous, newly formed composition of flora, fauna, and saprophytes has been stated in many previous field studies. This study aimed to explore the biodiversity versus area size relationships, in particular, it investigated the species composition and diversity found in the development of the spontaneous vegetation formed during primary succession on mineral substrate habitats of postcoal mining spoil heaps of different area sizes. We tested the hypothesis: species diversity of the vegetation patches on coal mine spoil heaps becomes more diverse on larger sites over time. These results indicate that the area size of the spoil heap significantly affects the diversity of the vegetation. Regardless of which of the characteristics of the vegetation type (dominant species) is compared, the vegetation on the heaps differs depending on its area size.
The natural mineral resources (hard coal, sands, dolomites, lead and zinc ores) found in the Silesia and the excavation of them led to significant transformation or even degradation of the environment. The landscape of Upper Silesia was dominated by heaps created as a result of the accumulation of post-mining coal waste. These postindustrial sites are characterised by difficult conditions for the development of plant communities. Nevertheless, the heaps are spontaneously overgrowing and over time, a separate ecosystem can be observed (for heaps). The article analyzes the enzymatic activity of the substrate in relation to the selected dominant grass (Monocots) and herbaceous (Dicots) plant species. The aim of this study was to compare the activity of particular enzymes in soil substratum of the vegetation patches dominated by grass and herbaceous plants.
Grasses have a considerable potential for the adaptation to various, often extreme, habitat conditions. The aim of the work was to present the vegetation diversity of the coal-mine spoil heaps with the dominant share of grasses and to identify the main factors responsible for this diversity in the aspect of post-industrial land reclamation. The communities differ in reference to the species preferences to light, moisture, soil fertility and reaction, which is reflected in the wide variety of microhabitats in the area. It was shown that the increase in the abundance of certain grass species, including Calamagrostis epigejos, Festuca rubra, Festuca arundinacea, Phragmites australis, has a significant negative impact on the species richness, species diversity and the uniformity of distribution of species of the plant community. Preliminary analyses revealed that on post-mining waste, the biomass production of the dominant species is negatively correlated with biodiversity. The knowledge about the biology and ecology of grass species, as well as on the assembly rules may be used in the reclamation of degraded areas. Gaining the knowledge about the vegetation diversity of the coal-mine spoil heaps with the dominant share of grasses can be useful in planning the reclamation works, taking into account natural processes, which leads to the creation of a permanent vegetation cover at a given site, protecting it against water or wind erosion. In the future these areas may provide a number of important ecosystem services.
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