COMPOSING A JIGSAW PUZZLE: SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEM IN PLACE OF FORMER QUARRY

From ecological point of view, abandoned quarry is a piece of wildlife disturbed by mining. It hardly could be restored in exactly same form that existed here before due to altered relief, soil structure, and other components of the ecotope. Leaving this land for self-vegetation commonly results in dumping and swamping. If instead a depleted quarry or its segment is artificially planted with foreign or even inhabitant species, its ecosystem becomes unstable in the surroundings of wildlife and needs in permanent man care.

In order to solve the problem of quarry transformation into sustainable and at the same time nice and useful landscape, we propose, based on worldwide experience and our past studies, to consider a reclaimed quarry as a kind of mosaic or jigsaw puzzle. Pieces of such puzzle correspond to future interacting biotopes, pre-formed ecotopes being the prerequisites. The puzzle must be composed in such manner that biocenosis of each ecotope was self-balanced and mutually advantageously interacted with all neighboring biotopes or virgin wild surroundings.

One specific aim of our project consists in development of stable unclosed plant communities for particulate ecotopes to be mapped within and around the quarry. Further activities will include planting the nuclei of selected populations in respective ecotopes and monitoring their growth with minor interventions.