Biodiversity and temporal patterns of macrozoobenthos in a coal mining subsidence area in North China

PeerJ

article

Guanxiong Zhang¹  Xingzhong Yuan¹  Kehong Wang¹ 

[1] Chongqing University, State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control;Chongqing Key Laboratory of Wetland Science Research in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River;Institute of Chongqing Qianzhou Ecological Research

关键词: Biodiversity;    Coal mining subsidence;    Wetland;    Macrozoobenthos;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.6456

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Coal resources play a strategic role in the long-term development of China. Large-scale mining has a considerable impact on the landscape, and it is a long-term heritage of industrialization unique to the Anthropocene. We investigated the macrozoobenthos and water in nine mining subsidence wetlands at different developmental stages (3–20 years) in North China. A total of 68 species were found, and the macrozoobenthos community in the newly formed wetlands showed high diversity. We believe that this high diversity is not random; rather, the high diversity was because of the special origin and development of the wetland. We used three time slices from the timeline of the development of the newly formed wetlands and compared them. It was found that the macrozoobenthos community was significantly affected by the change in the subsidence history. We emphasize that coal mining subsidence should not be merely identified as secondary man-made disasters, as they are often secondary habitats with high conservation value, and their conservation potential lies in the fact that these secondary habitats can replace rapidly decreasing natural wetlands.

【 授权许可】

CC BY