TERRESTRIAL PLANT AND WILDLIFE
 COMMUNITIES ON PHOSPHATE-MINED LANDS IN
 CENTRAL FLORIDA
 ROGER S. SCHNOES AND STEPHEN R. HUMPHREY'

ABSTRACT: A study of plant and animal communities documented the recovery of phos-
phate-mined land in central Florida. Hypotheses about community structure were tested
in two sets of treatments. One set consisted of the relatively stable end results of post-
mining land use. These treatments were: consolidated waste clay soil; late successional
forest on unreclaimed overburden spoil piles with and without interspersed lakes; and
grazed and ungrazed pastures on reclaimed overburden soil. The other set of treatments
tested for differences in community structure among several seral stages on unreclaimed
overburden spoil piles with interspersed lakes. The responses of biological communities
were measured as the identity, diversity, and abundance of plants, mammals, birds, rep-
tiles and amphibians, and insects. Major findings include:
 1) Succession on clay waste areas was slow, resulting in senescent forest and a depau-
perate animal community.
 2) Unreclaimed spoil piles underwent a rapid primary succession culminating in xeric
or mesic oak forest with rich animal communities. The faunas were different on treat-
ments with and without lakes, but both had moderate-to-high wildlife value, high aes-
thetic quality, and much potential for enhancing animal populations.
 3) Succession on reclaimed sites was arrested by grazing or mowing. Both treatments
provided relatively poor wildlife habitat, though animal diversity and abundance gener-
ally were higher on ungrazed sites. However, stocking with cows resulted in high live-
stock biomass and slightly more diverse vegetation.
 4) Aboveground lenses of hardening clay appear to be properly characterized as waste-
lands, so implementing optimal reclamation procedures for clay wastes should be a top
priority.
 5) By contrast, both unreclaimed sites and the type of reclaimed sites examined here
are valuable land with a variety of potential uses. The advantage these have in common is
the presence of overburden soil.
 6) The biological factors underlying the value of reclaimed land are the abundant,
balanced nutrients in overburden soil and the free services provided by colonizing biota,
notably creation of topsoil through symbiotic nitrogen-fixation by Frankia and Myrica,
seed dispersal by wind and later by migratory birds, and possibly by introduction of my-
corrhizal fungi spores by rodents. Operation of these processes should be built into plans
for managing reclamation.
 7) Succession on overburden soil was to mesic oak forest. Because its soil hardpan is
destroyed during mining, restoration of pine flatwoods is not possible without new engi-
neering designs for soil reclamation.
 8) The study supports reclamation to rangeland as a legitimate post-mining land use,
even though its wildlife value is low. However, the current trend of maintaining improved


IRoger S. Schnoes is a Forester with the Bureau of Land Management, Medford District Office, 3040 Biddle Road,
Medford OR 97501. Stephen R. Humphrey is Associate Curator in Ecology, Florida State Museum, and Affiliate Asso-
ciate Professor of Wildlife Ecology, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville FL
32611.

Schnoes, R. S., and S. R. Humphrey, 1987. Terrestrial Plant and Wildlife Communi-
ties on Phosphate-mined Lands in Central Florida. Bull. Florida State Mus., Biol. Sci.
30(3):53-116.