The comprehensive concept for the management of post-industrial sites based on natural processes

There are many theories and concepts concerning ecosystem development in natural and semi-natural habitat conditions. The study of spontaneous processes on human-disturbed habitats such as post-excavation mineral habitats provided data revealing that the impact of the specific abiotic factors on any aspect of biotic elements of the developing ecosystems does not follow most of the mechanisms known from the natural and semi-natural habitat conditions. The feedback relations become more complex when the spontaneous vegetation patches and the developing ecosystem start to cover mineral oligotrophic habitats, particular in respect to the biomass soil organic matter and soil substratum parameters. The fundamental process of the biomass and further soil organic matter in mineral soil substratum is based on the non-analogous species composition of the developing vegetation assemblages.

The de novo formed unusual mineral habitats are colonized by not-known plant species vegetation communities. The relationships between the plant species, particularly the dominant plant species, and the abiotic substrate parameters are frequently different than expected. The differences in ecosystem functioning observed in the disturbed habitats led the researcher to use a separate term novel ecosystem.

The crucial observed process is the colonization of the best-adapted plant species individuals. The individuals of the commonly represented species are adapted to extreme drought, salinity,  texture, and pH. The same is true regarding the microorganisms of the colonizing plant's root system. These natural processes provide an opportunity to investigate the relationships between the plant species, particularly the dominant plant species, and the associated organisms and the abiotic substrate parameters. Differences in the chemical and physical properties of the disturbed post-mineral excavation substrates have resulted in unknown, non-analogous species compositions of the vegetation and animal organisms. These differences are reflected in the soil substratum enzymatic activity, the bacteria functional diversity, and soil substratum respiration rates.

The vegetation, biomass, the matter flow beginning, growing on the mineral material of the post-coal mine heaps consists of a mosaic of patches dominated by various species assembled in a variety of microhabitats. This mosaic reflects the diversity of abiotic habitat conditions. The taxonomic species diversity is followed by the functional vegetation diversity and the variety of plant individual's responses to environmental stressors.

Post-mineral excavation sites deliver an example of newly established habitats that differ from the natural ecosystems current in the surrounding landscape. These findings brought us to present a comprehensive concept for the management of post-industrial sites based on natural processes, that is necessary to be applied to recover the ecosystems after disturbance. This concept enables the application of the natural processes, in a site-specific approach in the disturbed or de novo established sites. The return to previous ecosystems should not be considered. The enhancement of the novel ecosystem development in urban and industrialized landscapes is the prerequisite of the modern economy.