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Species traits of soil fauna and ecosystem functions during recovery after major disturbances
Salazar Fillippo, Andres Alberto ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Tajovský, Karel (referee) ; Józefowska, Agnieszka (referee)
Growing evidence indicates that interactions between above and belowground communities are essential for healthy and functioning ecosystems. This, however, has exposed a disproportionate knowledge gap in soil communities, which remain poorly understood both at a taxonomic and ecological level when compared to their aboveground counterpart. Studying assembly processes of communities along with structuring forces driving these changes facilitate observing key dynamics within the ecosystem. For this reason, three out of four manuscripts included in the current thesis focus on chronosequences in different successional stages after restoration of major disturbances. The first chronosequence consisted of four sites (10 years, 30 years, 50 years, and a >100 years reference site) in heathlands restored using top-soil removal from North- East Belgium. Here I studied trait assemblages of oribatid mite communities that revealed different ecomorphological groups changing with time during succession, and we also quantitatively assessed the contribution of phoresy via rodents to the dispersal of oribatid mites between restored sites. In the second chronosequence on spoil heaps from the mining district of Sokolov (Czech Republic) with sites ranging from 1 to 41 years, I identified explicit relationships between...
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Final report about research in Sokolov post mining sites in 2023 based on agreement between ENKI ops and Institute of Soil Biology and Biogeochemistry BC CAS.
Frouz, Jan ; Lišková, K. ; Bartuška, Martin ; Badraghi, A. ; Mudrák, O. ; Kučera, J. ; Montagnani, L. ; Bednářová, E. ; Šimáňová, D. ; Reinshmidová, E.
The report brings main results of the research about soil and ecosystem recovery in post mining landscape near Sokolov based on agreement between ENKI ops and Institute of soil biology and biogeochemistry, BC CAS.
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Erosion on reclaimed and unreclaimed post minning heaps
Lišková, Kristýna ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Bartuška, Martin (referee)
Erosion is an important process that can cause soil degradation when it occurs excessively, at the same time it is an important natural process that affects the geomorphology of the terrain, the formation of soils and many other processes and soil properties. This thesis deals with the process of erosion and its effect on areas affected by surface mining and various reclamation procedures. The possibilities of recultivation are detailed here, and the possibilities of erosive effects on the conduct of successful recultivation are also presented. Likewise, the effect of reclamation on the erosion proces is presented. The experimental part was carried out in the FALCON experimental catchment at one of the Sokolov heaps, where areas were created representing the reclaimed (flat surface) and non-reclaimed (undulated surface) surface. Using erosion pins and sediment collection, the influence of the chosen type of restoration on soil erosion was monitored. Furthermore, the influence of erosion and deposition on some soil properties (bulk weight, infiltration rate, phosphorus content, granular composition, pH, conductivity) was monitored depending on the type of reclamation. The results show that the decrease of the surface due to erosion is greater on the unreclaimed area. However, this does not...
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Comparison of two methods of soil organic matter fractionantion
Fryčová, Kateřina ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Borůvka, Luboš (referee)
Comparison of two different soil organic matter fractionation methods Soil organic matter (SOM) significantly affects physical, chemical and biological properties of soils and plays also a crucial role in the global carbon cycle. In order to simulate SOM dynamics a number of mathematical models have been developed. These models divide SOM into several theoretical pools according to their stability. Unfortunately, lacking experimental procedure which could measure these pools directly, although for this purpose a wide range of fractionation procedures were developed, that are trying identified empirical fractions with theoretical model pools. An objective of this experiment was to reproduce two fractionation procedures on a set of twenty-seven laboratory-prepared samples: according to Six and according to Zimmermann and to compare their results. Also the relationship between respiration and the amount of carbon in different pools was compared. The most significant differences were found in active pools, where Six's method found twice as much carbon than Zimmermann's one. Finally response of both method results to various environmental parameters (mineral composition, litter type and soil mixing) was compared. According to the results of Zimmermann's method the amount of carbon in different pools was mainly...
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The effect of vegetation properties on soil organic matter decomposition
Čápová, Kateřina ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Vindušková, Olga (referee)
Dekompozice je důležitým činitelem v koloběhu uhlíku (C), přičemž je tento proces značně ovlivněn dostupností dusík Nicméně všechny faktory, které do dekompozice vstupují a ovlivňují ji nejsou patřičně prozkoumány, což také naznačují časté protichůdné výsledky řady publikací. Větší pochopení těchto vztahů nám zároveň pomohou k většímu pochopení sekvestrace uhlíku. A díky tomuto se můžeme lépe vyrovnávat globální bilanci uhlíku a tím snížit negativní dopady klimatické změny. Víme, že dekompozice se značně liší v jednotlivých stádiích. Důležitou roli hraje vstupní materiál zejména to, kolik obsahuje uhlíku a dusíku (poměr C:N), což naznačuje jak rychle, nebo pomalu se bude rozkládat. Zároveň také, mimo jiné, reaguje na vstupy uhlíku (C) a dusíku (N). Různých interakcí na abiotické, či biotické faktory dekompozice je daleko více. Nicméně stálý růst oxidu uhličitého a dusíku v prostředí a jejich vliv na rozkládaný materiál hraje čím dál tím důležitou roli, a proto je potřeba věnovat mu značnou pozornost. této studii jsem zkoumala jednotlivé reakce všech fází dekompozice na přídavky glukózy (C) a dusičnanu amonného (N). Zároveň jsem zkoumala, jakou roli v rozkladu hraje poměr CN a stabilita uhlíku v jednotlivých substrátech. Výsledky mé práce ukázaly, že organický materiál různého původu představuje organickou...
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Properties of overburden material after coal mining and its relation to mine spoil reclamation.
Matej, Dávid ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Bartuška, Martin (referee)
The extraction of mineral resources, including coal, is important for the functioning of industrial society, but it also brings a number of negative environmental impacts. The waste material generated by mining and collected on the spoil heaps poses an enormous risk to the surrounding ecosystems and interferes with all components of the environment. The aim of my thesis is to describe in more detail the issues related to the diversity of the properties of tailings substrates and the resulting consequences. The nature of spoil substrates differs considerably from conventional ones. Each of the wide range of characteristics of alluvial soils brings with it certain pitfalls that are problematic in the context of restoring the ecosystem to a natural state. Key words: open-cast coal mining, impacts of overburden, damage to ecosystems
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Toxicity of overburden and what determine it
Haurová, Jaroslava ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Bartuška, Martin (referee)
The bachelor thesis provides an overview and summary of the possible causes of phytotoxicity on mineral extraction sites, mentions the impact on plant biota, the impact on surrounding ecosystems and explores the possibilities of reducing or mitigating the effects. The main cause of phytotoxicity is low pH, which arises from the natural weathering of native materials and results in most soil processes and contamination. A way in which phytotoxicity can be mitigated on spoil heaps sites are by choosing appropriate reclamation.
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Development of soil nematode communities during primary and secondary succession
Benetková, Petra ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Hendrychová, Markéta (referee) ; Renčo, Marek (referee)
Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest threats of our era. Habitats with all the unique species linked with them disappear due to the landscape changes and various mankind activities, namely obtaining of resources. Open-cast mining and intensive agriculture are an example of human activities that vastly degrades soil and diversity of its fauna. Therefore, ecosystem restoration is a way how to mitigate those losses and conserve or even bring back unique habitats. Despite the fact that most of restoration projects aim at plant communities, interest of soil fauna communities restoration increased amongst scientists lately. Nematodes serve as a very useful tool for a soil food web quality assessment. Their characteristics, such as various body length or different feeding habits makes them fit into almost all important ecological niches within the soil fauna group. This together with the fact that they are amongst first to colonize new habitats allows us to track changes in soil food web during primary or secondary succession. Moreover, using similar methodology and specific nematode indices developed over years enable comparison between different habitats and stages of succession. Restoration of soils and soil processes represent serious challenge in many restoration projects. Various restoration...
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Ecology of bryophytes in post mining sites
Fatková, Lucie ; Frouz, Jan (advisor) ; Mudrák, Ondřej (referee)
Mining sites offer a mosaic of spoil heaps of different age, with diverse substrate characteristics. Especially problematic for vegetation development can be toxic spoil heaps with substrate from the Tertiary rocks characterized by low pH values and a high content of heavy metals. Under such conditions, bryophytes survive amongst other groups of organisms. In the frame of this master thesis occurring bryophyte species were analysed on toxic, nontoxic and recultivated spoil heaps of different age. Soil parameters (pH, conductivity, content of heavy metals, organic matter and percentage carbon and nitrogen content) were tested and further environmental variables like coverage of vegetation layers were recorded to analyse the importance of these factors for bryophyte community composition on differently managed spoil heaps. In total 37 species of bryophytes were identified on spoil heaps in Sokolov. On old non-toxic spoil heaps bryophytes reached the highest diversity. Young non- toxic recultivated spoil heaps contained the lowest number of species although they were holding the highest coverage of bryophytes. Toxic spoil heaps bore less diversity than non- toxic spoil heaps. In early stages of succession short living life forms and short functional groups of bryophytes dominated. Successional...
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Final report about research in Sokolov post mining sites in 2022 based on agreement between ENKI ops and Institute of Soil Biology BC CAS
Frouz, Jan ; Badraghi, A. ; Král, K. ; Reitschmiedová, E. ; Šálek, V. ; Kotápišová, Marta ; Novotná, B. ; Šimáňová, D. ; Kučera, J. ; Bednářová, E. ; Hublová, L. ; Irsah, S. ; Lačná, K. ; Kaneda, S. ; Zedníková, Petra
The report brings main results of the research about soil and ecosystem recovery in post mining landscape near Sokolov based on agreement between ENKI ops and Institute of soil biology, BC CAS.
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