Influence of surface flattening on biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods during early stages of brown coal spoil heap restoration

Published source details Moradi J., Potocky P., Kocarek P., Bartuska M., Tajovsky K., Tichanek F., Frouz J. & Tropek R. (2018) Influence of surface flattening on biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods during early stages of brown coal spoil heap restoration. Journal of Environmental Management, 220, 1-7.
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This study is summarised as evidence for the following.

	Action	Category
	Restore or create new habitats after mining and quarrying Action Link

Restore or create new habitats after mining and quarrying

A replicated, paired, site comparison study in 2014 in an open-cast mine spoil heap in Sokolov district, Czech Republic (Moradi et al. 2018) found that areas left to regenerate without flattening had more species of moth than flattened areas. The species richness of moths in unflattened areas (16 species/plot) was higher than in flattened areas (10 species/plot). However, the only endangered species recorded, purple tiger Rhyparia purpurata, did not show a preference for unflattened or flattened areas (data not presented). Of 380 species of invertebrate recorded (including 208 species of moth), 30% were only found in unflattened areas, and 15% were only found in flattened areas. From 1996–2009, most of a spoil heap was flattened by bulldozing, but patches were left with 1-m-high piles in rows, ~6 m apart. No topsoil was added to the site. Four pairs of unflattened and flattened 1-ha plots (~250 m apart) of a similar age were selected. Pairs were ~1 km apart. From May–September 2014, moths were sampled once/fortnight using two UV light traps/plot, set 50 m apart.

(Summarised by: Andrew Bladon)