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. Vécrin , M.P. , R. Van Diggelen , F. Grévilliot and S. Muller . 2002 . Restoration of species-rich flood-plain meadows from abandoned arable fields in NE France . Appl. Veg. Sci. 5 ( 2 ): 263 – 270
Abstract
A study has been carried out of the uptake of uranium and other radionuclides by plants growing on abandoned tailings from an uranium mining operation. Assay methods included instrumental neutron activation analysis, delayed neutron counting, fission track imaging, and counting of natural radioactivity. Care was taken to avoid contamination of the plant material and a number of methods are described to identify such contamination. All plants observed showed high uptake of radionuclides, compared to plants studied from naturally uraniferous and control areas. Graminoid (grass-like) plants showed significant uptake in the above-ground parts while woody plants showed exceedingly high uranium accumulation in the root portions. These results have significance in determination of the spread of radioactive material from such sites.
Community structure (species richness, dominance, similarity, diversity and seasonal dynamics) of the rove beetles (Staphylinidae) was examined in an abandoned, a conventional and an organic vineyard management plot of an experimental vineyard in Hungary.During the survey, a total number of 493 specimens belonging to 33 species were collected by pitfall traps. The dominant species were Sphenoma togata, Xantholinus linearis and Pseudocypus penetrans that presented 76.66% of all staphylinids collected in the vineyard. All of the most common staphylinid species had only one generation per year and overwintered as adults.There were significant differences in species richness and abundance; both were the highest in the abandoned plot. The dissimilarity in species composition between the differently treated plots was also high. The diversity was the highest in organic, and the lowest in conventionally treated plot, while the abandoned one showed an intermediate value.
Abstract
This study aims to find out a vascular plant species that accumulate relatively high concentrations of arsenic (As) for its use as phytoremediator at abandoned and contaminated mining areas, such as São Domingos mines (Portugal). The assessment of As contamination levels in soils and plants of other similar sites in the north of the country (Castromil and Poço de Freitas) was also conducted; and the sample analyses were made by instrumental neutron activation analysis. Agrostis genera have shown higher As transfer coefficients than other studied plant species and, in particular, Agrostis curtisii has shown a reasonable ability to accumulate high concentration of this toxic element.
Abstract
At Tsugu mine in Aichi Prefecture, antimony was mined and smelted until 1956. The amounts of antimony present in the soil of the abandoned mine were measured to enable us to detect any traces of the operation of the mine and to measure the level of environmental contamination with antimony. The quantity of antimony in rings of hinoki and sugi was also measured to obtain information about chronological changes in environmental conditions. The quantity of antimony in the samples was determined by INAA. The antimony concentrations in eight soil samples at different points in the Tsugu mine area were 8–17,000 ppm.
We have examined the community structure indices (species richness, dominance, diversity and similarity) of the rove beetles (Staphylinidae) assemblages in three differently treated apple orchards in Hungary.During the survey, a total number of 728 specimens belonging to 73 species were collected with pitfall traps. The dominant species were Omalium caesum, Drusilla canaliculata, Dexiogyia corticina, Mocyta orbata and Styloxys insecatus .Out of the differently treated orchards, the staphylinid abundance was the higher in the abandoned than in the conventionally treated and in integrated pest management orchards.The diversity profile of the communities showed that there were no differences between the diversity of the conventionally treated and abandoned orchards, and both were significantly more diverse than the IPM orchard. The similarity indices indicated that the forming dominance of the species was also influenced by the treatment. The distribution of the dominant species in each pitfall trap used in each plot shows the insecticide tolerance of the species
Soil processes over forty years of woodland succession were studied in the abandoned coppices of the Děvín Nature Reserve, in the south-east of the Czech Republic. A total of 113 horizon samples from 34 profiles were taken in the 1960s and 2000s, following identical field and laboratory approaches, to characterize soil texture, contents of carbonates and organic matter, and soil reaction (pH/H 2 O, pH/KCl). Changes in the soil properties were discussed in relation to the gradual development of the mature woodland that replaced the former intensively managed ancient coppice. Four soil types (Luvisols, Regosols, Leptosols and Chernozems) and their horizons were statistically treated to identify distributions/shifts in the measured values from the past to the present. The following results were obtained: (1) The horizontal transport and sedimentation of sandy calcareous particles into the Leptosols topsoil led to increased acidity. (2) In Luvisols, the same was detected for fine clayey particles. This can be explained by the topographical occurrence of the two types — on the upper parts of slopes and under limestone cliffs for the former, and in the flat foothills for the latter soil type. (3) No acidification appeared except for Luvisols, whose luvic horizons E and Bt are, in contrast to the others, poor in calcium carbonate and relatively acidic. A decrease in acidity was recorded in KCl solution, but not in H 2 O. This is interpreted as the consequence of the buffering ability of the soil sorption complex. (4) Slightly improved humification was only detected in the surface horizons of Luvisols and Leptosols. (5) Contrary to expectations no illimerization, i.e. the migration of clay particles from topsoil to subsoil, was revealed.As forty years is apparently too short a time for significant vertical clay migration, it was concluded that i) horizontal migration and the accumulation of substrate particles was of at least the same importance as in situ pedogenetic processes, and ii) soil property dynamics that could be linked with the changed woodland management were proved to act relatively slowly.
Pedological and coenological investigations were made around the villages of Alsószuha and Gömörszőlős, in the Putnok Hills microregion, which forms part of the Northern Hungarian Mountains. These were complemented with laboratory nutrient analyses, giving the opportunity to compare the pedological relationships and erosion of natural and ploughed areas. Arable lands can often be found on steep slopes. The brown forest soil types characteristic of these areas are less sensitive to erosion, but they suffer significant damage when cash crops are hoed regularly even on steep slopes.Coenological data indicative of the previous farming system are presented for three plots near Alsószuha. Regular mowing resulted in a large number of plant species even 10 years after cereal production was abandoned. The lack of regular mowing on a plot with a similar farming history, however, resulted in the dominance of aggressive weeds. The species on the third plot showed that the 42 years that had elapsed since cereal production was abandoned, followed by grazing until 1990, ensured enough time for revegetation and the generation of a secondary grassland (slope steppe) in a close-to-natural state. Invasive weeds were absent from all the observed plots.
Abstract
On the territory of the abandoned uranium mine 
irovski vrh
, Slovenia, indoor radon and gamma dose rate measurements were carried out in nineteen schools from February 10 to May 10, 1995, using scintillation cells and etched track detectors for radon and thermoluminescence dosimeters for gamma-ray detection. In five schools indoor radon levels exceeded 400 Bq·m-3, which is the proposed Slovene action level. The maximum average radon value of 1600 Bq·m-3 and the maximum gamma-dose rate of 172 
Sv·month-1 were found in the same school. According to the ICRP 65 methodology, annual effective doses from radon decay products ranged from 0.05 to 6.10 mSv for pupils and from 0.04 to 4.90 mSv for teachers. Gamma dose rates ranged from 0.05 to 0.19 mSv·y-1 for pupils and from 0.07 to 0.27 mSv·y-1 for teachers.
Abstract
Since the beginning of explorative uranium mining at the Žirovski Vrh uranium ore deposit area in 1968, a radioactivity monitoring programme has been carried out. The extent of the programme has varied according to the pre-operational, operational, and, finally, post-operational conditions. In this paper, our ten year results on the dissolved radium concentrations in surface waters, which have been contaminated and potentially affected by the uranium mining and milling activities, are reported. With the exception of waters drained from the hydrometallurgic waste site with radium content ranging from 2 to 9 kBqm−3, radium content is far below the drinking water limit of 1000 Bqm−3; in the Brebovŝčica stream, which collects all the waters affected by the mine, the present radium concentration does not exceed 10 Bqm−3.
