The ecology of wetlands created in mining-affected landscapes

McComb, A.J. and Chambers, J.M. (2003) The ecology of wetlands created in mining-affected landscapes. In: Ambasht, R.S. and Ambasht, N.K., (eds.) Modern trends in applied aquatic ecology. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, USA, pp. 247-268.

Abstract

This review deals with the establishment of wetlands on land affected by mining, but it is useful to recall that the mining industry may have an impact in a number of ways, including direct impacts on existing wetlands, for example, physical obliteration, altered groundwater contours, heavy metal contamination, and eutrophication (nutrient enrichment and its consequences).

Our emphasis is not so much on these impacts, or on techniques to rehabilitate wetlands after such disturbance, but on creating wetlands as a form of rehabilitation of mined lands rather than returning them to agricultural or forest production. However, some of these impacts leave a heritage that must be taken into account when attempting to create wetlands in a landscape affected by mining.

Item Type:	Book Chapter
Murdoch Affiliation(s):	School of Environmental Science
Publisher:	Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
Copyright:	© 2003 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/23938

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