BULLETIN FLORIDA STATE MUSEUM


 DISCUSSION

 SYNTHESIS OF RESULTS

 The approach of this study solved a commonly recognized problem in
evaluating ecosystems: "Comparisons of the quality of biomass before
and after mining are . difficult because the wildlife composition is of
different species" (Phosphate Land Reclamation Study Commission 1978).
Measuring both diversity and abundance of several components of the
biota on each study site enabled use of features common to all biological
communities in evaluating the quality of post-mining habitats. A wildlife
community normally is considered valuable if it contains a great diversity
of species, a high abundance of one desirable species, or a balance of
moderate levels of diversity and abundance. For example, valuable com-
munities may include a tropical forest (with many species but low abun-
dance), hoofed animals of the Great Plains (with many bison but low
species diversity), and hoofed animals of East African grassland (with
substantial numbers of both species and individuals). Using this rationale
we have compared the quality of very different communities that de-
velop on post-mining treatments.
 Table 14 summarizes the relative diversity and abundance of the five
categories of wildlife over the range of treatments. The values are pre-
sented as a percentage of the maximum value obtained for each variable.
No attempt was made to derive a numerical rating of the treatments from
this table, because we chose not to equate the importance of different
types of animals. Instead we compared wildlife values by dividing the
relative figures into three arbitrary ranges and counting the number of
scores in each range for each site class.
 This summary shows that the clay settling ponds consistently had low
to moderate values, with only one measure in the high range (Table 14).
It was apparent from general observations in the area that active and
recently deactivated settling ponds provided excellent wetland habitats
with much higher wildlife values, but once a crust formed and willows
dominated the site much of the attractiveness to wildlife was lost. Values
continued to decline as the clay dried further.
 The series of unreclaimed treatments showed a primary succession
that included high-quality wildlife communities (Table 14). Colonization
of mined areas began soon after the disturbance and, without manage-
ment, fairly diverse and abundant communities became established within
5-7 years. The 5-15 and 15-30 year old age classes in particular sup-
ported large communities. The two mature classes had slightly lower
values, especially in abundance, but diversities often remained high.
 Natural succession of unreclaimed overburden soil led to maturing


VOL. 30 NO. 3