The dynamics of the plant functional group concept vegetation on coal mine spoil heaps

tekst w j. pol. i ang.Celem niniejszej pracy jest poznanie zmian składu funkcjonalnego roślinności na zwałach karbońskich skał płonnych w czasie, w szczególności, ustalenie, jak zmienia się w czasie pokrycie gatunków o takich samych cechach, gatunków reprezentujących takie same grupy funkcjonalne

Chapter Urban and Industrial Habitats: How Important They Are for Ecosystem Services

The sustainable management of natural resources can make human survival possible. Sustainable management is based on a deep understanding of the complex mechanisms of the Earth’s natural ecosystems and of how those resources can be managed without compromising future benefits and availability. The sustainable management of natural resources becomes much more complicated when there is severe and constant anthropogenic impact, and therefore, an interdisciplinary approach has to be undertaken to improve the understanding, assessment, and maintenance of the natural capital, and the related ecosystem services, in urban-industrial areas. In ecological restoration, the biggest challenge is to find a general consensus of suitable biodiversity indicators and economically viable measures, which will produce multiple socially and ecologically guided environmental benefits. There is difficulty in reaching such consensus because of the complexity, and differing understanding, of the biodiversity concept. In an effort to restore sites disturbed by industrial (mining) activities, restoration projects should involve ecologically based methods and approaches, which will be able to fulfill many stakeholders’ expectations for sustainable development and human well-being. The integrated natural and human models for sustainable management can used to understand the dynamics of ecosystems, including biodiversity and trophic levels (including mid-trophic consumer influences), in order to simulate and evaluate different management scenarios in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services. There is still a need for the increasing understanding of the role of biodiversity and ecosystem service identification as important factors influencing the dynamics of ecosystem and sustainable management scenarios

Urban and Industrial Habitats: How Important They Are for Ecosystem Services

The sustainable management of natural resources can make human survival possible. Sustainable management is based on a deep understanding of the complex mechanisms of the Earth’s natural ecosystems and of how those resources can be managed without compromising future benefits and availability. The sustainable management of natural resources becomes much more complicated when there is severe and constant anthropogenic impact, and therefore, an interdisciplinary approach has to be undertaken to improve the understanding, assessment, and maintenance of the natural capital, and the related ecosystem services, in urban-industrial areas. In ecological restoration, the biggest challenge is to find a general consensus of suitable biodiversity indicators and economically viable measures, which will produce multiple socially and ecologically guided environmental benefits. There is difficulty in reaching such consensus because of the complexity, and differing understanding, of the biodiversity concept. In an effort to restore sites disturbed by industrial (mining) activities, restoration projects should involve ecologically based methods and approaches, which will be able to fulfill many stakeholders’ expectations for sustainable development and human well-being. The integrated natural and human models for sustainable management can used to understand the dynamics of ecosystems, including biodiversity and trophic levels (including mid-trophic consumer influences), in order to simulate and evaluate different management scenarios in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services. There is still a need for the increasing understanding of the role of biodiversity and ecosystem service identification as important factors influencing the dynamics of ecosystem and sustainable management scenarios

Gatunki chronione i rzadkie na nieużytkach poprzemysłowych

Działalność gospodarcza człowieka, a szczególnie intensywny rozwój przemysłu na obszarze województwa śląskiego w poważny sposób zaburza stały, naturalny cykl przemian zachodzących w przyrodzie. W ekosystemach nie zaburzonych panują ustabilizowane warunki, a tworzące je biocenozy pozostają w stanie równowagi dynamicznej z abiotycznymi elementami siedliska. W fitocenozach naturalnych na przestrzeni wieków ukształtował się stan stabilizacji, który wyraża się harmonijną, hierarchiczną strukturą i jest ściśle zdefiniowany przez ilościowe i jakościowe zależności między jej komponentami. Stan taki umożliwia fitocenozie maksymalne wykorzystanie produkcyjnego potencjału siedliska i zredukowanie wysiłków organizmów związanych z utrzymaniem się wśród pozostałych komponentów fitocenozy. Stan taki czyni również fitocenozę strukturalnie zamkniętą całością, która nie może być penetrowana przez jakiekolwiek nowe gatunki bez wcześniejszego zaburzenia tej struktury [K0STR0WICK1, 1979]. Na bardzo silnie zmienione siedliska nieużytków poprzemysłowych niezależnie od rodzaju i intensywności stosowanych zabiegów rekultywacyjnych rośliny wkraczają spontanicznie. Roślinność spontaniczna swoista dla konkretnych obiektów jest w określonych warunkach siedliska trwała i jak się wydaje najbardziej pożądana i najlepiej przystosowana. (Fragment tekstu

Biominerals and waxes of Calamagrostis epigejos and Phragmites australis leaves from post-industrial habitats

Vascular plants are able to conduct biomineralization processes and collect synthesized compounds in their internal tissues or to deposit them on their epidermal surfaces. This mechanism protects the plant from fluctuations of nutrient levels caused by different levels of supply and demand for them. The biominerals reflect both the metabolic characteristics of a vascular plant species and the environmental conditions of the plant habitat. The SEM/EDX method was used to examine the surface and cross-sections of the Calamagrostis epigejos and Phragmites australis leaves from post-industrial habitats (coal and zinc spoil heaps). The results from this study have showed the presence of mineral objects on the surfaces of leaves of both grass species. The calcium oxalate crystals, amorphous calcium carbonate spheres, and different silica forms were also found in the inner tissues. The high variety of mineral forms in the individual plants of both species was shown. The waxes observed on the leaves of the studied plants might be the initializing factor for the crystalline forms and structures that are present. For the first time, wide range of crystal forms is presented for C. epigejos. The leaf samples of P. australis from the post-industrial areas showed an increased amount of mineral forms with the presence of sulfur

An application of the plant functional group concept to restoration practice on coal mine spoil heaps

The history of coal mining in South Poland has left a legacy of many spoil heaps across the landscape. These have presented the opportunity to study their colonisation and spontaneous successional sequences over a long time period. We use the plant functional group (PFG) approach to characterize and compare species diversity on spoil heaps of different ages by utilising the ecological characteristics (PFG categories) of the species recorded during the course of spontaneous vegetation development. By changing species frequency into functional group frequency it was possible to find the significant differences in the functional composition of the studied vegetation and to analyze the dataset using non‐parametric statistics. There was a small increase in the number of species over time, while the frequency of geophytes, nanophanerophytes and megaphanerophytes increased significantly. A significant increase was also recorded for the frequency of competitors, stress‐tolerators and stress‐tolerant competitors and for native species. We found that the significant differences in species composition measured as PFG diversity occurred between the youngest and the oldest age classes. The PFG approach provided valuable insights into the nature of the species composition of the developing vegetation on hard‐coal mine spoil heaps. We suggest that it could be usefully applied in restoration practice in the future by facilitating the natural colonization of native species adapted to local conditions and thus retaining the local gene pool in these areas

Links in the functional diversity between soil microorganisms and plant communities during natural succession in coal mine spoil heaps

The successful establishment of vegetation, soil development and biogeochemical cycling during the restoration process of mine tailings requires a diverse and metabolically active microbial communities. The objective of this study was to test whether there is any link between the functional groups of both the dominant plant species and soil microbial communities on unreclaimed coal mine spoil heaps of different age located in the Silesian Upland (Poland). At each sampling site the dominant plant species were recorded and characterised based on their Raunkiaer’s life form, socio-ecological group and their potential to form mycorrhiza. The functional diversity of the plantassociated microbial communities was assessed using the microbial carbon-utilisation guilds generated using the Biolog method. We observed no differences in the microbial functional diversity, but a gradual increase in the plant functional diversity with the age of the heap. Our results indicate that trees, plants with the potential to form ectomycorrhiza, and deciduous plants strongly affected the carbon-utilisation profiles. The mean proportion of microbe guilds in dominant plant patches accounts for 60 % of the variance while the soil physicochemical parameters explained only 30 % of the variance. This suggest that in post-industrial habitats the biotic features of the soil substratum are more important for the vegetation development than the abiotic parameters

Wyszukiwarka Google jako praktyczne narzędzie lingwistyczne do opisu innowacyjnych użyć frazeologizmów

The aim of this article is to present the basic capabilities of the Google search engine in the process of analysing multi-word lexical combinations. Our assumption is that the Google search engine can be regarded as a kind of linguistic database ready to be used as a practical linguistic tool. The text is an overview, therefore the presented material is limited to the necessary minimum, i.e. fifty randomly-selected phraseological compounds. In the introduction, we list ( and briefly discuss ) the tools available for studying Polish-language multi-word lexical combinations. With such an outlined background, we may characterise the Google search engine as a linguistic database. Finally, in the relevant part, we present the ways of using this tool with selected examples. In the summary, we discuss the possibilities offered by the use of a constantly-updated linguistic database which the Internet search engine under review can be considered to be.The aim of this article is to present the basic capabilities of the Google search engine in the process of analysing multi-word lexical combinations. Our assumption is that the Google search engine can be regarded as a kind of linguistic database ready to be used as a practical linguistic tool. The text is an overview, therefore the presented material is limited to the necessary minimum, i.e. fifty randomly-selected phraseological compounds. In the introduction, we list ( and briefly discuss ) the tools available for studying Polish-language multi-word lexical combinations. With such an outlined background, we may characterise the Google search engine as a linguistic database. Finally, in the relevant part, we present the ways of using this tool with selected examples. In the summary, we discuss the possibilities offered by the use of a constantly-updated linguistic database which the Internet search engine under review can be considered to be

The lecture programme

Environmental management can be viewed as a complete spectrum along which society first identifies an issue or pro-blem, and subsequently assesses its importance, develops possible solutions, implements actions, then monitors (and evaluates) the effectiveness of the actions. There are different “players” or “actors” at each stage, e.g. the government or local authorities, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), environmental consultants, scientists, individuals, etc. At each stage different actors can have an input into a particular process of varying significance, depending on the issue or problem identified. [fragm. tekstu

Introduction and timetable

The problem of environmental assessment, which is addressed in this module, is much more about bringing together a very wide range of skills and approaches than investigating in depth from a single point of view. We have therefore adopted an empirical approach where you, the student, will start from a real problem and, under the supervision of a course team with a range of skills, will assemble a viable and holistic approach to its solution. [fragm. tekstu