Growth and survival of native upland and wetland species in shallow capped thickened tailings: a meso-scale greenhouse study

This 3 year meso-scale greenhouse study used 55 gallon columns to evaluate the survival and growth of boreal upland and wetland communities on thickened tailings (TT) with 0 cm, 10 cm, and 30 cm peat mineral mix (PMM) reclamation cap. While survival was high in all treatments, the PMM cap treatments...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Soil Science 2023-12, Vol.103 (4), p.567-617
Main Authors: Degenhardt, Dani, Van Dongen, Angeline, Schreiber, Stefan G., Bekele, Asfaw
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Automobile industry
capping
Greenhouses
Growth
Indigenous species
Mesoscale phenomena
Mine tailings
native plants
Oil sands
oil sands tailings
Peat
Petroleum industry
Plant growth
Reclamation
Survival
Tailings
Wetlands
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Summary:This 3 year meso-scale greenhouse study used 55 gallon columns to evaluate the survival and growth of boreal upland and wetland communities on thickened tailings (TT) with 0 cm, 10 cm, and 30 cm peat mineral mix (PMM) reclamation cap. While survival was high in all treatments, the PMM cap treatments showed significant improvement in overall plant growth, cover, and above-ground biomass compared to the uncapped treatment, with growth on the 30 cm PMM cap outperforming the 10 cm PMM cap. The plant growth response was similar between the two communities and the top performing species, in terms of survival and growth, in capped TT were Cornus sericea, Populus tremuloides, Salix bebbiana, and Scirpus microcarpus.
ISSN:0008-4271
1918-1841
1918-1833
DOI:10.1139/cjss-2022-0113