Plant adaptability and species diversity after coal mining reclamation in South Borneo

Abstract

Reclamation is an important activity to support ecosystem recovery after mine closure. The success of this effort depends on plant adaptability to environmental pressure, primarily related to high-acidity soil. However, more information about plant adaptability in reclamation sites is need ed, although it is required to determine the alternative species for supporting revegetation efforts. Our study investigated the adaptability of multiple tree species used for coal mining reclamation and assessed their essential role in enhancing biodiversity in the degraded ecosystem. An eco logical survey was conducted using a transect line method with a sampling plot size of 20×20 m and an interval from each 50 m. This study found that seven species were used to support the reclamation efforts, i.e., Aleurites moluccana, Archindendron pauciflorum, Artocarpus heterophyl lus, A. integer, Durio zibethinus, Hevea brasiliensis, and Mangifera casturi. The survival across species was 78.60−89.39 %, with a height of 64.75−133.94 cm and a diameter of 0.59−1.39 cm. The species diversity was low, with a richness of 0.98 and a heterogeneity of 0.84. These spe cies also had an unbalanced distribution pattern with an evenness index of 0.43. These findings showed that the selected plant species had good adaptability to the environmental conditions of the reclamation site. Although their contribution to biodiversity improvement was still low, there was a positive contribution from these species to biodiversity recovery after the mine closure. Fur ther investigation is still required to monitor the long-term benefits of these species on ecosystem recovery in the reclamation area.