Impact assessment and development of strategies for restoring reptile and amphibian biodiversity in mining-disturbed environments

安大略省的萨德伯里在历史上因其采矿作业而闻名的“月球景观”而声名狼藉。今天，萨德伯里是一个不同的地方，一个绿色的地方。通过采矿业（淡水河谷、斯特拉塔）、城市和当地社区之间的广泛合作，世界知名的绿化和栖息地恢复工作已经恢复了萨德伯里地区的许多生态系统功能；然而，仍有许多工作要做。虽然土壤、湿地酸度和植被已经显著恢复，但野生动物的栖息地质量仍然很差，而且大部分地区不支持多种动物群落。由于缺乏大多数物种，特别是爬行动物和两栖动物的生态和种群信息，野生动物栖息地的恢复受到阻碍。爬行动物和两栖动物是食物网的组成部分，也是生态系统健康的重要生物指标。我们的项目将填补这方面的知识空白，并补充萨德伯里市的生物多样性行动计划，通过改进策略来促进恢复地点的爬行动物和两栖动物的恢复。除了在我们的项目中提出的建议，我们还将提供淡水河谷财产的基本但急需的物种清单数据，以及监测萨德伯里地区生态恢复的工具，这些工具可以应用于其他受采矿影响的地区。因此，我们的项目将直接协助淡水河谷正在进行的生物多样性恢复行动，以及他们评估和监测受采矿影响地点的生态影响和恢复的努力。

Sudbury, Ontario has the dubious distinction of being historically known for its "lunar landscape" resulting from mining operations. Today, Sudbury is a different place, a green place. Through extensive collaborations among the mining industry (Vale, Xstrata), the city, and the local community, world-renowned re-greening and habitat restoration efforts have recovered many ecosystem functions in the Sudbury area; however, there is still much to be done. Although soils, wetland acidity, and vegetation have recovered dramatically, habitat quality for animal wildlife remains impoverished, and much of the area does not support diverse animal communities. Restoration of habitats for animal wildlife has been hindered by a paucity of ecological and population information for most species, especially reptiles and amphibians which are integral constituents of food webs and important bio-indicators of ecosystem health. Our project will fill knowledge gaps in this regard and supplements the city of Sudbury's Biodiversity Action Plan by refining strategies to facilitate the recovery of reptiles and amphibians in rehabilitated sites. In addition to the recommendations developed during our project, we will also provide basic, but much-needed species inventory data on Vale's property, as well as tools to monitor ecological recovery in the Sudbury area that can be applied in other mining-impacted locations. Thus, our project will directly assist Vale's ongoing biodiversity recovery actions, as well as their effort to assess and monitor ecological impacts and recovery of mining-impacted sites.