Hard coal mining in the German Ruhr district has a tradition of more than 200 years. Starting in the south near the river Ruhr with mining of seams near to the surface, mining wandered to the north with coal seams dee...Hard coal mining in the German Ruhr district has a tradition of more than 200 years. Starting in the south near the river Ruhr with mining of seams near to the surface, mining wandered to the north with coal seams deeper and deeper. In the same way all environmental effects of mining wandered from south to north, as there are abandoned mining sites, contaminated areas, burning mining dumps, subsided areas and gas accesses at day ground. This all happened in a very high populated area with more than four million inhabitants. Therefore Germany has a long tradition in solving environmental problems of mining activities. The very good interaction of mine authority, mining companies and the mine workers’ union is the main reason why the problems of decreasing mining activities in Germany were solved without economic, environmental or social hazards.展开更多
Mineral extraction is known to affect soil fungi in polar environments,but it is unknown how long these effects persist.Here,by amplifying the internal transcribed spacer regions of rRNA genes in soil fungi,we compare...Mineral extraction is known to affect soil fungi in polar environments,but it is unknown how long these effects persist.Here,by amplifying the internal transcribed spacer regions of rRNA genes in soil fungi,we compared soil fungal community in intact natural tundra with that in a nearby former coal mining area,abandoned 52 years previously,on Svalbard in the High Arctic.Compared with those in intact tundra,soils in the former mining area were more acidic and had lower plant coverage.Despite of similar diversity in the two areas,the fungal community was dominated by Basidiomycota in the intact tundra,but by Ascomycota in the former mining area.Ectomycorrhizal genera formed a major part of the tundra community,but were notably less abundant in the mining area.The principal variation among samples was soil pH.Surprisingly,network connectivity analysis indicated that the fungal community in the former mining area had greater network connectivity than that in the tundra area.Overall,the ecosystem in the former mining area has made only limited recovery towards the natural tundra state even after more than five decades.It is unclear whether the recovery of the fungal community is limited more by the low primary productivity,slow migration of fungi and plants,or slow changes in soil parameters.Our findings emphasize the susceptibility of polar ecosystems to disturbance,given their particularly slow recovery back towards the natural state.展开更多
文摘Hard coal mining in the German Ruhr district has a tradition of more than 200 years. Starting in the south near the river Ruhr with mining of seams near to the surface, mining wandered to the north with coal seams deeper and deeper. In the same way all environmental effects of mining wandered from south to north, as there are abandoned mining sites, contaminated areas, burning mining dumps, subsided areas and gas accesses at day ground. This all happened in a very high populated area with more than four million inhabitants. Therefore Germany has a long tradition in solving environmental problems of mining activities. The very good interaction of mine authority, mining companies and the mine workers’ union is the main reason why the problems of decreasing mining activities in Germany were solved without economic, environmental or social hazards.
文摘Mineral extraction is known to affect soil fungi in polar environments,but it is unknown how long these effects persist.Here,by amplifying the internal transcribed spacer regions of rRNA genes in soil fungi,we compared soil fungal community in intact natural tundra with that in a nearby former coal mining area,abandoned 52 years previously,on Svalbard in the High Arctic.Compared with those in intact tundra,soils in the former mining area were more acidic and had lower plant coverage.Despite of similar diversity in the two areas,the fungal community was dominated by Basidiomycota in the intact tundra,but by Ascomycota in the former mining area.Ectomycorrhizal genera formed a major part of the tundra community,but were notably less abundant in the mining area.The principal variation among samples was soil pH.Surprisingly,network connectivity analysis indicated that the fungal community in the former mining area had greater network connectivity than that in the tundra area.Overall,the ecosystem in the former mining area has made only limited recovery towards the natural tundra state even after more than five decades.It is unclear whether the recovery of the fungal community is limited more by the low primary productivity,slow migration of fungi and plants,or slow changes in soil parameters.Our findings emphasize the susceptibility of polar ecosystems to disturbance,given their particularly slow recovery back towards the natural state.
