Successional Dynamics of the Climatophile Vegetation of the Mining Territory of the Río Tinto Basin (Huelva, Spain): Soil Characteristics and Implications for Phytoremediation

Abstract

This study deals with plant communities of the mining area of the Río Tinto basin, their relationship with the environment, specifically their soils, and their successional processes. The vegetation was studied by phytosociological methods. The results reveal that current vegetation of the Río Tinto mining area is mainly composed of ten plant communities that present a progressive and regressive sequence that constitutes a vegetation series. The mining actions in the area have led to the loss of the original soils and to a fast regression of the vegetation to the first colonizer stages. This regressive process entails a loss of diversity and a change in the Raunkier's life-form spectrum. Soil physical and chemical analysis showed that the progressive processes of the vegetation involve an evolution of the soils, which tend to reduce their acidity and toxic metal concentration and to enrich in phyllosilicates. The results obtained give an overview of the potential vegetation that should exist in this territory. They allow the establishment of restoration programs in the mine tailored to the existing substrates and the native vegetation, favoring the conservation of both endemic species and plant communities in the region.