Diversity of Spontaneous Vegetation on Post-Industrial Sites - Importance in Reclamation Process

"Industrial wasteland is a typical element of the landscape of all the industrialised regions in Europe. There are many examples from Poland as well as from other European countries that post-industrial sites have been undergone natural colonisation and succession to establish in some cases ecosystems of greater biological diversity than the original ecosystems. The post-industry sites regardless of any reclamation carried out, undergo natural successional processes. The respective biological diversity (number of species, and number of plant assemblages) reflects the micro-variety of the specific habitat. This paper summarizes the results of investigations, which have been carried out since 1989 on coal mine water sedimentation pools in the Upper Silesia Industry Region. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the diversity of spontaneous plant communities recorded on post-industrial waste sites. In the course of the long time fieldwork, plant assemblages representing nine phytosociological groups have been identified."