Dominant drivers of plant community assembly vary by soil type and time in reclaimed forests
Trepanier, K. E., B. D. Pinnoand R. C. Errington. 2021.
Abstract
Information on plant community assembly
mechanisms is limited on forest reclamation sites after
mining in the Canadian boreal forest. We assessed the
change in plant community composition after Year 2
and Year 5 on species-rich forest floor mineral mix
(FFMM) and species-poor peat mineral mix (PMM)
reclamation soils by examining assembly mecha-
nisms, i.e., seed bank, seed rain, biotic dispersal,
vegetative expansion, and competition. Initial plant
cover and diversity were greater onFFMMdue to non-
native species originating from the seed bank, which
had 59more seeds in the FFMM. By Year 5, both soil
types had approximately 40% cover and 80 species
richness due to the addition of wind and biotic-
dispersed species and were characterized by a shift
towards native species. Native forbs using vegetative
reproduction expanded up to 2 m from FFMM into
PMM. At Year 5 competition does not seem to have a
large role in the structuring of the vegetation commu-
nity. Overall, multiple factors were involved in
structuring plant communities on reclamation sites but we observed a general convergence between plant
communities on different soil types in a relatively
short period of time.
Key Words
Plant community mechanisms Succession Reclamation Boreal
