The impact of a recultivation layer on the restoration of plant communities

Areas of coal mining dumps naturally overgrowing with vegetation in the dry-steppe (Khakassia), forest-steppe (Krasnoyarsk Krai, Kansk-Achinsk Fuel and Energy Complex, KAFEC) and subtaiga (Kemerovo region, Kuzbass) subzones were investigated. The environmental and cenotic characteristics of herbaceous communities were studied in experimental sites following the application of a fertile soil layer and in technogenic eluviums without soil improvers. The application of a fertile soil layer was found to increase both the species abundance and the projective cover of zonal species. Thus, the presence of a humus horizon promotes the formation of herbaceous ecosystems. However, this is not an unconditional factor that these ecosystems would reach the stage of zonal formations.