Abstract
Post-mining sites are characterised by unfavourable soil conditions which limit the recovery of ecosystem functions. The growth of legumes, which are able to increase soil nitrogen content and accelerate the primary succession, can be limited by soil conditions as well as by grass competition. We performed a greenhouse pot experiment using various soils from spoil heaps where we planted legumes, namely, Trifolium pratense and Lotus corniculatus, and a grass, Poa compressa. The aim was to determine their growth and interaction-competition vs facilitation — with respect to their biomass and a response to the δ15N in plant biomass. The variation of substrates was given by using soils of various ages (from 15 to 60 years old) and their previous management-reclaimed or unreclaimed (spontaneously overgrown) sites in spoil heaps in the Sokolov coal mining district (The Czech Republic). The growth of plants studied increased with substrate age and plants grew faster in reclaimed than successional substrates, but the differences decreased with age. Symbiotic nitrogen fixation supported the growth of legumes and made them favourable, especially in early substrates, where the grass was suppressed. The legume-grass competition increased with substrate age and nitrogen content in soil but was not significant for T. pratense. The effect of facilitation was not observed. Legumes showed as strong competitors with the grass in post-mining sites substrates and do not facilitate the grass. Legumes could contribute to adding nitrogen to the poor substrates through the decomposition of their high biomass, according to the studies done in a real situation.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Kateřina Jandová from the Laboratory of Stable and Radiogenic Isotope, Faculty of Science, Charles University, for nitrogen isotope analyses. We would also like to thank Jitka Hubačová and Kateřina Čápová for their help with sampling and Lara Cameron for the language correction.
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This research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (projects of EF16_013/0001782) and by the Charles University Research Centre program Progress Q 16.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection and analysis were performed by Petra Zedníková and Jaroslav Kukla. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Petra Zedníková, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zedníková, P., Kukla, J. & Frouz, J. The Growth, Competition, and Facilitation of Grass and Legumes in Post-mining Soils. J Soil Sci Plant Nutr 23, 3695–3704 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-023-01290-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-023-01290-8