Succession of insects on unreclaimed coal strip mine spoil banks in Indiana

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5694934

Schrock, J R

Selected sites at a western Indiana unreclaimed coal strip mine and adjacent undisturbed area sampled by Munsee in 1964 were restudied in 1981. Slope and exposure, soil pH and texture, vegetation and tree tallies, on-site rainfall and local weather records were used to characterize 18 spoilbanks and two unmined sites. Surface-active arthropods were sampled by replicated pitfall taps the summer of 1981 at the same locations and dates trapped by Munsee in 1964. Plant cover was sampled by a modified point-contact method. Trees over one inch dbh were tallied and measured for basal area. Clustering by similarity based on chi-square differences was performed for plants, trees, ants, springtails and ground beetles, using the undisturbed forest and a highly acid un-revegetated mined site as the extremes. Soil pH and texture changed rapidly on one moist spoilbank. Soil moisture levels generally decreased between 1964 and 1981 and depth of water penetration generally increased. Ant, springtail and carabid populations changed on revegetating sites. Myrmica spatulata and Smithistruma clypeata were major new ants on the sites in 1981. Iridomyrmex pruinosus analis and Pheidole bicarinata characteristic of barren spoilbanks in 1964 survived on only one remaining barren site in 1981. The collembolan Entomobrya quadrilineata decreased while Hypogastrura denticulata increased on the revegetating sites. Known habitat preference of some of these insects matched their occurrence on the spoilbanks.

• OSTI ID: 5694934
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
COAL MINES
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
INSECTS
POPULATION DYNAMICS
SPOIL BANKS
REVEGETATION
BIOLOGICAL VARIABILITY
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
HABITAT
INDIANA
PH VALUE
PLANTS
SOILS
SURFACE MINING
ANIMALS
ARTHROPODS
FEDERAL REGION V
INVERTEBRATES
MINES
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
USA
010900* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Environmental Aspects
550100 - Behavioral Biology