Portal de Cartagena
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The researcher Ramón y Cajal UPCT Hector Conesa has given this August a seminar on advances in revegetation of mine tailings in semiarid environments in the Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems belonging to the prestigious Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, The nineteenth best university in the world according to the ranking of Shanghai (the only non-Anglo among the twenty first) and eighth in Natural Sciences.
Several research groups in the School of Agriculture at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT) study the rehabilitation of mining land, providing perspectives from complementary scientific and technical solutions to existing environmental problems in the Sierra Minera.
"We publish in scientific journals first nive.
We have nothing to envy to other universities in this field, "says Conesa.
Among the results obtained, Conesa Swiss researchers showed evidence that water stress is a less important factor than salinity or soil microbiology for revegetation of mine waste.
He highlighted the discovery of copies of Cartagena cypress (Tetraclinis articulata), an endangered species, which have grown spontaneously in contaminated soils.
"We are conducting greenhouse experiments to see if the mineral deposits may be feasible for reproduction Cartagena cypress habitat," explains the researcher.
Revegetation with trees in these degraded environments is one stuning novel advances in the research group UPCT Agroquímica works., Technology and Management of Soils and substrates, which owns Conesa.
The seminar, entitled 'The Importance of pioneer plant species succession and edaphic niches for the phytomanagement of mining impacted semiarid agricultural ecosystems', has benefited from the presence of students, researchers and professors from prestigious Swiss center.
Conesa stressed the importance of eco-physiological aspects and the natural mechanisms of succession in landscape restoration projects in former mining areas.
While presented the results of the application of stable isotope techniques as a tool to assess the degree of adaptation of vegetation used in landscape restoration projects.
This novel approach to the problem of revegetation of mine waste, which is now the basis for the doctoral thesis Párraga Isabel Aguado, Ph.D. student ETSIA, was recently endorsed by the publication of six scientific articles in premier journals in of agricultural and environmental areas such as Plant and Soil Science of the Total Environment, Ecological Engineering or Environmental Pollution.
The seminar is part of the project 'Use of native plant species to restore / stabilize mine tailings from the Sierra de Cartagena-La Union', funded by the Seneca Foundation of the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia and who is principal investigator Conesa .
Source: UPCT
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