Vegetation community characteristics of mine dumps under different recovery years

To explore an appropriate ecological recovery technology for mine dumps, a quantitative ecological sampling survey method was used to conduct a field survey of the vegetation community in five dumps in different recovery years in Panzhihua V-Ti-Magnetite zone. The vegetation species of each mine dump was recorded, and then importance value, community diversity, evenness, and community similarity were measured. Thirty-six types of plant species were identified in the mine dumps. Among the plant species, Gramineae was the largest group, followed by Compositae and Leguminosae. Herbaceous such as Heteropogon contortus, Phragmites australis, and Suaeda glauca showed the greatest superiority degrees and were tolerant to metal mine dumps. Herb-based shrubs were the dominant community type in the early stage of vegetation restoration in the mine dumps. During recovery and succession, the number and diversity of species showed an increasing trend during the initial stage, and then a decrease over time. Additionally, an interspecific competition relationship was discovered among different species. Significant differences were found among the vegetation communities of mine dumps in different recovery years.