Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/17276
Title: The copper spoil heap Knappenberg, Austria, as a model for metal habitats – Vegetation, substrate and contamination
Authors: Adlassnig, Wolfram
Weiss, Yasmin S.
Sassmann, Stefan
Steinhauser, Georg
Hofhansl, Florian
Baumann, Nils
Lichtscheidl, Irene
Lang, Ingeborg
Keywords: Copper
Ecosystems
Forestry
Grain Size And Shape
Irradiation
Metals
Ores
Soils
Ecological Traits
Elevated Concentrations
Grain Size Distribution
Metal Concentrations
Metal Tolerance
Metallophytes
Ore Minerals
Vegetation Pattern
Vegetation
Copper
Copper
Copper
Lichen
Moss
Ore Mineral
Pollution Tolerance
Spoil Heap
Vascular Plant
Vegetation
Air Temperature
Austria
Contamination
Controlled Study
Environmental Aspects And Related Phenomena
Humidity
Lichen (organism)
Metal Tolerance
Microclimate
Moss
Nonhuman
Plant Growth
Priority Journal
Sensitivity Analysis
Soil Acidity
Species Distribution
Species Richness
Spoil Heap
Vascular Plant
Vegetation
Chemistry
Drug Effects
Ecosystem
Forest
Growth, Development And Aging
Metabolism
Mining
Soil
Soil Pollutant
Alps
Austria
Eastern Alps
Lower Austria
Bryophyta
Tracheophyta
Austria
Bryophyta
Copper
Ecosystem
Forests
Lichens
Mining
Soil
Soil Pollutants
Tracheophyta
Issue Date: 2016
metadata.dc.publisher.journal: Science of the Total Environment
metadata.dc.relation.ispartof: Volume 563-564, Pags. 1037-1049
Abstract: Historic mining in the Eastern Alps has left us with a legacy of numerous spoil heaps hosting specific, metal tolerant vegetation. Such habitats are characterized by elevated concentrations of toxic elements but also by high irradiation, a poorly developed substrate or extreme pH of the soil. This study investigates the distribution of vascular plants, mosses and lichens on a copper spoil heap on the ore bearing Knappenberg formed by Prebichl Layers and Werfener Schist in Lower Austria. It serves as a model for discriminating between various ecological traits and their effects on vegetation. Five distinct clusters were distinguished: (1) The bare, metal rich Central Spoil Heap was only colonised by highly resistant specialists. (2) The Northern and (3) Southern Peripheries contained less copper; the contrasting vegetation was best explained by the different microclimate. (4) A forest over acidic bedrock hosted a vegetation overlapping with the periphery of the spoil heap. (5) A forest over calcareous bedrock was similar to the spoil heap with regard to pH and humus content but hosted a vegetation differing strongly to all other habitats. Among the multiple toxic elements at the spoil heap, only Cu seems to exert a crucial influence on the vegetation pattern. Besides metal concentrations, irradiation, humidity, humus, pH and grain size distribution are important for the establishment of a metal tolerant vegetation. The difference between the species poor Northern and the diverse Southern Periphery can be explained by the microclimate rather than by the substrate. All plant species penetrating from the forest into the periphery of the spoil heap originate from the acidic but not from the calcareous bedrock. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.
metadata.dc.identifier.doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.179
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