Twenty-three Years of Vegetation Change in a Fly-Ash Leachate Impacted Meadow
Pavlovic N, Leicht-Young S, Wilcox D, Hieber R, Mason D, Frohnapple K. 2009. Twenty-three Years of Vegetation Change in a Fly-Ash Leachate Impacted Meadow. Great Lakes Network Reports. Great Lakes Network Report GLKN/2009/05. Great Lakes Inventory & Monitoring Network, National Park Service. Ashland, WI
INTRODUCTION Hydric succession is largely driven by surface or ground water fluctuations that are often caused by variation in precipitation (van der Valk 1978, Keddy and Reznicek 1986). As a result of this periodic variation in flooding, wetlands are often devoid of trees and shrubs. For example natural wetlands such as palustrine emergent types (Cowardin 1982), often undergo cyclic successional sequences (Keough et al. 1999, Albert and Minc 2004, Wilcox 2004). In this sequence flooding prevents tree invasion and diminishes the dominance of the late successional perennials. Post-flooding drawdowns to the substrate then permit the germination of an early successional flora that is then replaced by various successional stages and species. Subsequently succession may then proceed back to the late successional dominant. While many studies have examined successional processes in natural and polluted wetlands, few have looked at succession from wetlands impacted by flooding and fly ash leachate. The impacts of industrial pollution on vegetation has been of increasing importance since the start of the industrial revolution and the pioneering work of Bradshaw on zinc (Zn) mine tailings in England (Bradshaw 1952). The production of heavy metal laden fly-ash, also called pulverized fly-ash, from the burning of coal in power plants has been especially common in developed countries (Shaw 1992, Kaneko 1996, Choi et al. 2002, Hower et al. 2006). For instance, 120 million tons of fly-ash were produced annually in the U.S. in the early 21st century (Bienen 2003). Several studies have examined the development of vegetation on fly-ash in pits (Shaw 1992), but few have examined the impacts of leachate on vegetation development (Wilcox et al. 1985, Wilcox and Hardy 1988, Hilgenkamp 1990). Several authors have examined the natural revegetation through succession on polluted spoils at the same site through time (Densmore 1994, Jochimsen 1996, Smyth 1997, Jochimsen 2001, Hodacova and Prach 2003). ...
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Pavlovic, Noel; Leicht-Young, Stacey; Wilcox, Doug; Hieber, Ron; Mason, Dan; Frohnapple, Krystalynn
- Date of Issue
- 2009-04
- Publisher
- Great Lakes Inventory & Monitoring Network, National Park Service
- Units
- INDU
- Keywords
- Abundance (Biodiversity), Blag Slough, Distribution (Biodiversity), fly-ash, leachate, NPSpecies, Observations, Presence (Biodiversity)