ESTONIAN ACADEMY
PUBLISHERS
eesti teaduste
akadeemia kirjastus
cover
Estonian Journal of Ecology
Assessment of vegetation performance on semicoke dumps of Kohtla-Järve oil shale industry, Estonia; pp. 3–18
PDF | doi: 10.3176/eco.2010.1.01

Authors
Riina Vaht, Margus Pensa, Mait Sepp, Aarne Luud, Helen Karu, Tiina Elvisto
Abstract
The performance of vegetation was assessed at semicoke dumping sites of Kohtla-Järve oil shale industry in summers 2004 and 2006. The condition of tree species and the presence of herbaceous species were recorded in areas where the vegetation had been planted or had developed naturally. Betula pendula and Populus balsamifera were the most abundant tree species on the semicoke dumps covering 0.54 and 0.11 km2, respectively. Herbaceous vegetation had the highest coverage in stands dominated by Alnus glutinosa, but the species composition of herbs was homo­geneous under different tree species. Most of the herbaceous species were typical of wasteland areas (ruderal strategy type) or adapted to stressful conditions (stress-tolerant strategy type), including seven protected orchid species. The species composition of herbs was affected by the slope of the dump. Our results indicate that planting with Alnus glutinosa gives the best result for the reclamation of semicoke dumps as this tree species promotes the growth of herbaceous vegetation.
References

Andrews, A. 2006. Oil Shale: History, Incentives, and Policy. Congressional Research Service. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33359.pdf (visited 2008-08-15).

Arold, I. 2005. Eesti maastikud. Tartu University Press, Tartu.

Brendow, K. 2003. Global oil shale issues and perspectives. Oil Shale, 20, 81–92.

EASAC. 2007. A Study on the EU Oil Shale Industry – Viewed in the Light of Estonian Experience. A Report by EASAC to the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy of the European Parliament. European Academies Science Advisory Council, London.

Grime, J. P. 1979. Plant Strategies and Vegetation Processes. John Wiley & Sons, New York.

Grime, J. P., Hodgson, J. G. & Hunt, R. 1988. Comparative Plant Ecology. A Functional Approach to Common British Species. Unwin Hyman, London.

Harzia, H., Orupõld, K., Habicht, J. & Tenno, T. 2007. Leaching behavior of oil shale semicoke: sulphur species. Oil Shale, 24, 583–589.

Hermy, M., Honnay, O., Firbank, L., Grashof-Bokdam, C. & Lawesson, J. E. 1999. An ecological comparison between ancient and other forest plant species of Europe, and the implications for forest conservation. Biol. Conserv., 91, 9–22.
doi:10.1016/S0006-3207(99)00045-2

Hobbs, R. J., Arico, S., Aronson, J., Baron, J. S., Bridgewater, P., Cramer, V. A., Epstein, P. R., Ewel, J. J., Klink, C. A., Lugo, A. E., Norton, D., Ojima, D., Richardson, D. M., Sanderson, E. W., Valladares, F., Vilà, M., Zamora, R. & Zobel, M. 2006. Novel eco­systems: theoretical and management aspects of the new ecological world order. Global Ecol. Biogeogr., 15, 1–7.
doi:10.1111/j.1466-822X.2006.00212.x

Holl, K. D. 2002. Long-term vegetation recovery on reclaimed coal surface mines in the eastern USA. J. Appl. Ecol., 39, 960–970.
doi:10.1046/j.1365-2664.2002.00767.x

Hunt, R., Hodgson, J. G., Thompson, K., Bungener, P., Dunnett, N. P. & Askew, A. P. 2004. A new practical tool for deriving a functional signature for herbaceous vegetation. Appl. Veg. Sci., 7, 163–170.
doi:10.1111/j.1654-109X.2004.tb00607.x

Hunter, I. R., Hobley, M. & Smale, P. 1998. Afforestation of degraded land—pyrrhic victory over economic, social and ecological reality. Ecol. Eng., 10, 97–106.
doi:10.1016/S0925-8574(97)10026-X

Huss-Danell, K. 1986. Nitrogen in shoot litter, root litter and root exudates from nitrogen-fixing Alnus incana. Plant Soil, 91, 43–49.
doi:10.1007/BF02181817

Huss-Danell, K. 1997. Actinorhizal symbioses and their N2 fixation. New Phytol., 136, 375–405.
doi:10.1046/j.1469-8137.1997.00755.x

Juhanson, J., Truu, J., Heinaru, E. & Heinaru, A. 2007. Temporal dynamics of microbial community in soil during phytoremediation field experiment. J. Envir. Eng. Landscape Manage., 15, 213–220.

Kaar, E. 2002. Coniferous trees on exhausted oil shale opencast mines. For. Stud., 36, 120–125.

Kaar, E. 2003. Viru Õlitööstus AS I, II ja IV poolkoksimäe haljastamine 2003. a. EPKAR Grupp OÜ, Tartu.

Kukk, T. & Kull, T. 2005. Atlas of the Estonian Flora. Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu.

Lamb, D., Erskine, D. P. & Parrotta, J. A. 2005. Restoration of degraded tropical forest landscapes. Science, 310, 1628–1632.
doi:10.1126/science.1111773

Luud, A., Liblik, V. & Sepp, M. 2003. Landscape evaluation in industrial areas. Oil Shale, 20, 25–32.

McCune, B. & Grace, J. B. 2002. Analysis of Ecological Communities. MjM Software, Gleneden Beach.

Mõtlep, R., Kirsimäe, K., Talviste, P., Puura, E. & Jürgenson, J. 2007. Mineral composition of Estonian oil shale semi-coke sediments. Oil Shale, 24, 405–422.

Oja, V., Elenurm, A., Rohtla, I., Tali, E., Tearo, E. & Yanchilin, A. 2007. Comparison of oil shales from different deposits: oil shale pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis with ash. Oil Shale, 24, 101–108.

Orupõld, K. & Henrysson, T. 1999. Biological treatment of oil shale ash heaps leachate containing phenolic compounds by biofilm reactors with suspended carriers. J. Resour. Environ. Biotechnol., 2, 219–233.

Ostonen, I., Lõhmus, K., Alama, S., Truu, J., Kaar, E., Vares, A., Uri, V. & Kurvits, V. 2006. Morphological adaptations of fine roots in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) and black alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) stands in recultivated areas of oil shale mining and semicoke hills. Oil Shale, 23, 187–202.

Pae, T., Luud, A. & Sepp, M. 2005. Artificial mountains in North-East Estonia: monumental dumps of ash and semi-coke. Oil Shale, 22, 333–343.

Palik, B. J., Goebel, P. C., Kirkman, L. K. & West, L. 2000. Using landscape hierarchies to guide restoration of disturbed ecosystems. Ecol. Appl., 10, 189–202.
doi:10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[0189:ULHTGR]2.0.CO;2

Pensa, M., Sellin, A., Luud, A. & Valgma, I. 2004. An analysis of vegetation restoration on opencast oil shale mines in Estonia. Restor. Ecol., 12, 200–206.
doi:10.1111/j.1061-2971.2004.00323.x

Pensa, M., Karu, H., Luud, A., Rull, E. & Vaht, R. 2008. The effect of planted tree species on the development of herbaceous vegetation in a reclaimed opencast. Can. J. For. Res., 38, 2674–2686.
doi:10.1139/X08-098

Raave, H., Kuldkepp, P., Leedu, E. & Merivee, A. 2004. Recultivation substance and composts produced from semi-coke: the effect on soil characteristics, the yield of field crops and the environment. Oil Shale, 21, 59–73.

Raukas, A. & Punning, J.-M. 2009. Environmental problems in the Estonian oil shale industry. Energ. Envir. Sci., 2, 723–728.
doi:10.1039/b819315k

Robichaud, R. P. 2005. Measurement of post-fire hillslope erosion to evaluate and model rehabilitation treatment effectiveness and recovery. Int. J. Wildland Fire, 14, 475–485.
doi:10.1071/WF05031

Rothe, A., Cromack, K., Resh, S. C., Makineci, E. & Son, Y. 2002. Soil carbon and nitrogen changes under Douglas-fir with and without red alder. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 66, 1988–1995.

Schmidt, M. 2006. Orchid species in Kohtla-Järve industrial area. In Nature of Oil Shale Region (Puura, I. et al., eds), pp. 107–109. Estonian Naturalists’ Society, Tartu.

Truu, J., Heinaru, E., Vedler, E., Juhanson, J., Viirmae, M. & Heinaru, A. 2007. Formation of micro­bial communities in oil shale chemical industry solid wastes during phytoremediation and bioaugmentation. NATO Science Series IV: Earth and Environmental Sciences, 76, 57–66.

Uri, V., Tullus, H. & Lõhmus, K. 2002. Biomass production and nutrient accumulation in short-rotation grey alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench) plantation on abandoned agricultural land. For. Ecol. Manage., 161, 169–179.
doi:10.1016/S0378-1127(01)00478-9

Värnik, R., Karp, K., Pihelgas, E., Merivee, A. & Lehtsaar, J. 2006. Effect of semicoke-based compost mixtures on gross margin of horticultural crops. Oil Shale, 23, 39–52.

Vaus, M. 1970. Eesti põlevkivikarjääride pinnaste metsakasvatuslikud omadused. Ministry of Forestry and Nature Conservation, Tallinn.
Back to Issue

Back issues