Abstract
Coal resources play a strategic role in the long-term development of China. Large-scale mining has a considerable impact on the landscape, and it is a long-term heritage of industrialization unique to the Anthropocene. We investigated the macrozoobenthos and water in nine mining subsidence wetlands at different developmental stages (3–20 years) in North China. A total of 68 species were found, and the macrozoobenthos community in the newly formed wetlands showed high diversity. We believe that this high diversity is not random; rather, the high diversity was because of the special origin and development of the wetland. We used three time slices from the timeline of the development of the newly formed wetlands and compared them. It was found that the macrozoobenthos community was significantly affected by the change in the subsidence history. We emphasize that coal mining subsidence should not be merely identified as secondary man-made disasters, as they are often secondary habitats with high conservation value, and their conservation potential lies in the fact that these secondary habitats can replace rapidly decreasing natural wetlands.
Highlights
Coal resources play a strategic role in the long-term development of China
Permutational multivariate analysis of variance showed that the community composition of the macrozoobenthos in the mining subsidence wetlands” (MSWs) varied significantly with the time of subsidence (F = 8.1114, P < 0.001), significant differences were found between IS and LS and between MS and LS (F = 8.336, P < 0.01; F = 9.541, P < 0.01, respectively), while there was no significant difference between IS and MS (F = 1.602, P > 0.05)
Some specific secondary habitats can provide enormous biodiversity conservation potential (Chester & Robson, 2013; Harabiš, Tichanek & Tropek, 2013; Harabiš, 2016). In this particular type of coal mining subsidence, we found that the developmental trajectory of the macrozoobenthos community in the MSWs was significantly affected by the time-lapse of the subsidence, which was driven by the advancement of the subsidence process
Summary
Coal resources play a strategic role in the long-term development of China. Coal mining activities have become more intense. In 2014, coal production reached 38.7 billion tons, accounting for 49% of the world’s gross domestic product (The National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China); of this, more than 92% of the coal comes from underground mining, which leads to serious surface subsidence. It has been estimated that when 10,000 tons of coal is mined underground, the settlement area spans 0.20–0.33 hectares. High groundwater coal basins are mainly distributed in the eastern and northeast parts of China. There are many thick coal seams with high groundwater levels and flat terrain. Most of these areas overlap coal seams and agricultural
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