The Soil Quality Of Different Tree Species For Afforestation In Damaged Mountain

Damaged mountain was produced by the exploitation of mineral resources, which causedserious ecological problems and economic loses to the regional ecological environment andeconomic development. However the soil and water resources were limited on the damagedmountain. How to restore the vegetation in damaged mountain is an urgent issue for thegovermental and scientific research departments. We chose different vegetation restorationpatterns on the slope and bottom of damaged mountain in Sibaoshan county, Zibo city as thecase study and analyzed their effect of greening and the soil quality. We used the method ofmembership function and Savinovs method of dry sieving to test the index of soil quality tofind afforestation species and the optimal recovery patterns. All these would providetechnological supports and the basis for the selection of tree species on damaged mountain.The main conclusions are as follows:1. Greening effect of different tree species shows that afforestation species is superior tonatural recovery.2. The afforestation species improved the soil structure significantly. And soil densities ofartificial revegetation were lower than that of mature brushwood significantly, in which, thatof Pinus thunbergii forest on slope and Acer mono on the bottom was the lowest. Soil waterholding capacities and its average mass diameters of soil aggregate were all higher than thatof brushwood. Among these revegetations, P. thunbergii forest on slope and A. mono on thebottom was the best. The soil porosities in0-10cm layer were better than that of10-20cm invertical space.3. The soil enzyme activities, soil nutrients and soil microbes decreades with the depthincreasing. There were significant differences between tree species, and they were better thanthat in brushwood. Overall the P. thunbergii forest on slope and A. mono were the best.4. The results show that the soil is severely polluted by Cu and Cd, mildy polluted by Zn, andthere were no pollution by Mn, Pb, Cr and Ni. The content of heavy metals in allrevegetations is lower than that of brushwood. Moreover the restorative effects of Pinusthunbergii forest was the best in rehabilitation of soil polluted by Cu and Cd, whereasPlatycladus orientalis forest performs best in rehabilitation of soil polluted by Zn. In verticallayers of the soil, the content of available Cu, Zn and Cd were greater in the lower layer than in the upper layer by24.00%-18.94%,0.97%-20.09%and5.48%-35.51%. In the bottomthe A. mono is the best, and in vertical layers of the soil the content of available Cu, Zn andCd is greater in the lower layer than in the upper layer. The enzymes are largely inhibited bythe content of available heavy metals and the chemical properties of soils. Hence, polyphenoloxidase, catalase and urease can be used as indicators for soil Cu pollution in damagedmountain.5. The recovery effect of different restoration pattern shows that: different species in order is:P. thunbergii>P. orientalis>Ailanthus altissima> A. mono> shrub on the slope, and A. mono>Rhus typhina Nutt> P. thunbergii> Prunus ceraifera cv. Pissardii> shrub on the bottom.