title: Soil physicochemical factors as environmental filters for spontaneous plant colonization of abandoned tailing dumps.
abstract: Abandoned tailing dumps (ATDs) offer an opportunity to identify the main physicochemical filters that determine colonization of vegetation in solid mine wastes. The current study determined the soil physicochemical factors that explain the compositional variation of pioneer vegetal species on ATDs from surrounding areas in semiarid Mediterranean-climate type ecosystems of north-central Chile (Coquimbo Region). Geobotanical surveys-including physicochemical parameters of substrates (0-20 cm depth), plant richness, and coverage of plant species-were performed on 73 ATDs and surrounding areas. A total of 112 plant species were identified from which endemic/native species (67%) were more abundant than exotic species (33%) on ATDs. The distribution of sampling sites and plant species in canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) ordination diagrams indicated a gradual and progressive variation in species composition and abundance from surrounding areas to ATDs because of variations in total Cu concentration (1.3%) and the percentage of soil particles <2 μm (1.8%). According to the CCA, there were 10 plant species with greater abundance on sites with high total Cu concentrations and fine-textured substrates, which could be useful for developing plant-based stabilization programs of ATDs in semiarid Mediterranean-climate type ecosystems of north-central Chile.
authors.affiliation: Center of Applied Ecology & Sustainability (CAPES UC), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile. rginocch@uc.cl.|Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile. rginocch@uc.cl.
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ginocchio
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agropecuarias, CRI Intihuasi, Camino a Peralillo s/n, Vicuña, Chile.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: León-Lobos
authors.affiliation: Center of Applied Ecology & Sustainability (CAPES UC), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile.|Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Eduardo Carlos
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Arellano
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Ecológicas, Universidad de Chile, Las Palmeras 3425, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Vinka
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Anic
authors.affiliation: Center of Applied Ecology & Sustainability (CAPES UC), Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Avenida Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins 340, Santiago, Chile.|Departamento de Ecosistemas y Medio Ambiente, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Juan Francisco
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ovalle
authors.affiliation: School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne and Centre for Mined Land Rehabilitation, The University of Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Alan John Martin
authors.initials: AJM
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D002677:Chile; D008906:Mining; D010944:Plants; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012989:Soil Pollutants
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants
keywords: Abiotic filters; Metal mining; Mine waste; Pioneer plants; Primary succession; Recolonization