title: Restoration of rare earth mine areas: organic amendments and phytoremediation.
abstract: Overexploitation of rare earth mine has caused serious desertification and various environmental issues, and ecological restoration of a mining area is an important concern in China. In this study, experiments involving dry grass landfilling, chicken manure broadcasting, and plant cultivation were carried out to reclaim a rare earth mine area located in Heping County, Guangdong Province, China. The prime focus was to improve soil quality in terms of nutrients, microbial community, enzyme activity, and physicochemical properties so as to reclaim the land. After 2 years of restoration, an increase of organic matter (OM), available potassium (K), available phosphorus (P) levels, and acid phosphatase (ACP) activity and a reduction of the available nitrogen (N) level and urease (URE) activity in soil were achieved compared to the original mined land. The nutrients and enzyme activities in soil with 5 years of restoration were close to or surpass those in the unexploited land as control. The bulk density, total porosity, water holding capacity, pH, and electrical conductivity (EC) of soil were improved, and the number of cultivable microorganisms and the bacterial diversity in soil were greatly increased with time during ecological restoration, especially for surface soil. Furthermore, the artificial vegetation stably grew at the restored mining sites. The results indicated that organic amendments and phytoremediation could ecologically restore the rare earth mining sites and the mined land could finally be planted as farmland.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
authors.forename: Lingyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
authors.forename: Zhaolong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
authors.forename: Shenghong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
authors.forename: Limin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
authors.forename: Liyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China.
authors.forename: Ximei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou, 510225, China. lhofice@163.com.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6894-0232
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000254:growth & development; D005308:Fertilizers; D008372:Manure; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth / Q000032:analysis*; D008906:Mining; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D006109:Poaceae / Q000737:chemistry; D011188:Potassium / Q000032:analysis; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D008372:Manure; D008674:Metals, Rare Earth; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen; D011188:Potassium
keywords: Ecological restoration; Microbial community; Physicochemical properties; Phytoremediation; Rare earth mine