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Plant recruitment six years after the Samarco’s tailings-dam disaster: Impacts on species richness and plant growth

Paz, André Araújo da ORCID iD icon 1; Shimizu-Aleixo, Diego; Oliveira-Wittmann, Astrid de 1; Wittmann, Florian 1; Ribeiro, Cleberson; Campos, Ricardo Ildefonso de; Pagano, Marcela [Hrsg.]
1 Institut für Geographie und Geoökologie (IFGG), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)

Abstract:

One of the greatest tragedies in Brazilian mining history occurred in November 2015 in Mariana, Minas Gerais state, when a dam from the mining company Samarco was breached. Millions of mine tailings from this upstream embankment were dumped over the Doce River basin, impacting an area of approximately 1469 ha of riparian vegetation. Our objective was to experimentally investigate whether plant recruitment and establishment are impaired in areas affected by tailings six years after the deposition. To achieve this goal, in 2021 we compared soil chemical properties between affected and unaffected areas, performed a soil seed bank experiment in controlled conditions, and conducted a greenhouse growth experiment using the two most abundant plant species. Affected soils presented lower fertility and organic matter content. At the same time, the mean abundance and richness of emerging plants did not differ between soils. Still, affected areas exhibited approximately 35% lower accumulated species richness (gamma diversity) than unaffected ones. The three most abundant species in both areas represented 34% of the individuals, being Marsypianthes chamaedrys (Vahl) Kuntze, Ludwigia octovalvis (Jacq.) P.H. ... mehr


Verlagsausgabe §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000184720
Veröffentlicht am 09.09.2025
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Geographie und Geoökologie (IFGG)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 08.2025
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 1932-6203
KITopen-ID: 1000184720
Erschienen in PLOS One
Verlag Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Band 20
Heft 8
Seiten e0315990
Vorab online veröffentlicht am 25.08.2025
Nachgewiesen in Scopus
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Web of Science
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