Monitoring land reclamation and ecosystem sustainability in the Greater Sudbury Region

2005年启动了一个合作研究项目，资金来自NSERC、淡水河谷有限公司和嘉能可。最初两个阶段的主要结果集中于评估大萨德伯里地区(GSR)复垦土地的可持续性，主要结果如下：1)人为金属含量的生物有效部分很少；2)土壤酸度(PH)和生物有效铝似乎是所研究生态系统中植物生长的关键限制因素；3)确定并表征了GSR中潜在的适合植物修复的物种；4)关键针叶种群是长期可持续的，红松是显著的例外；5)区域植树活动增加了松树种群的遗传变异性；6)硬木种群中观察到的遗传变异是中等到高度的，表明长期可持续性；7)石灰似乎改善了整体森林种群健康，GSR中的石灰化地点和远距离比较地点之间的差异仍然明显；8)总体上，与远距离比较地点相比，金属污染地点表现出较差的森林健康和生物多样性。该计划的最后一站旨在1)确定地面植物多样性和土壤微生物多样性之间的联系，以实现GSR森林生态系统的长期可持续性；2)确定管理实践和影响土壤微生物多样性的因素。与目前提议的少数几个地点有关的初步研究表明，可以使用简单、成本效益高的技术评估微生物活动和土壤健康。在目前的提案中，将使用磷脂脂肪酸分析(PLFA)和大基因组学等最新技术的鸡尾酒，对所有地点的土壤微生物多样性和丰度进行详细分析。微生物功能将使用土壤呼吸和酶分析进行评估。预期这项完整研究的结果将向利益攸关方提供一份区域地图，说明陆地生态系统的生态可持续性和GSR风险管理办法的成功。更重要的是，该项目将培养一批高素质的人才。

A collaborative research project was initiated in 2005 with funding from NSERC, Vale - Limited and Glencore. Key results from the initial two phases that focused on assessing the sustainability of reclaimed lands in the Greater Sudbury Region (GSR) can be summarized as follows: 1) the bioavailable portion of the anthropogenic metal content is very small; 2) soil acidity (pH) and bioavailable aluminum appear to be the key limiting factors for plant growth in the ecosystems studied; 3) species potentially suitable for phytoremediation in the GSR were identified and characterized; 4) key conifer populations are sustainable for the long term, with red pine being the notable exception; 5) the regional tree planting initiatives have increased the genetic variability for the pine populations; 6) the observed genetic variations in the hardwood populations are moderate to high indicating long term sustainability; 7) liming appears to have improved overall forest population health, with differences between limed sites in the GSR and distal comparison sites being still discernible; and 8) Overall, metal contaminated sites show poor forest health and biodiversity compared to distal comparison sites.This final leg of the program aims at 1) determining the association between above ground plant diversity and soil microbial diversity for long term forest ecosystem sustainability in the GSR and 2) identifying management practices and factors affecting soil microbial diversity. Preliminary study related to the current proposal for few sites revealed that microbial activity and soil health can be assessed using simple cost-effective techniques. In the present proposal, soil microbial diversity and abundance will be analyzed in details for all the sites using a cocktail of updated techniques: phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) and megagenomics. Microbial functions will be assessed using soil respiration and enzymatic assays. It is expected that the results of this complete study will provide to stakeholders a regional map related to the ecological sustainability of terrestrial ecosystems and the success of risk management approaches in the GSR. More importantly, the project will train a number of highly qualified personnel.