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Landscape Planning, 11 (1984) 35-48 35

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.. Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

ECOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES AND LAND RECLAMATION PRACTICE

A.D. BRADSHAW
Botany Department, University of Liuerpool, Liverpool L69 3BX (Ct. Britain)
(Accepted for publication 30 September 1983)

ABSTRACT

Bradshaw, A.D., 1984. Ecological principles and land reclamation practice. Landscape
Plann., 11: 35-48.

Any landfill or other reclamation site will revegetate naturally given time. What
happens naturally may seem to be the province of the naturalist, and little to do with
the practical steps which have to be taken when we want to hasten the revegetation
process artificially, which many will think is the province of the landscape architect
and engineer. Yet these two processes are indissolubly linked, because they are both
the outcome of the interaction between the ecological characteristics of the site and
the natural requirements of plants. We cannot get effective reclamation unless we un-
derstand the ecology of the site and of the materials we want to use.
This can best be illustrated by a detailed examination of the revegetation of any
distinctive type of waste material. On china clay waste, natural revegetation is very
slow, and earlier attempts to revegetate it artificially failed. Yet because of the nature
of soil/plant ecosystems, all this is due to one major problem - lack of plant nutrients,
especially nitrogen - which can be overcome simply and economically by a combina-
tion of chemical and biological techniques.
It may appear that all sites are unique, and that to ensure success elaborate solu-
tions will always be required. It is true that to achieve elaborate endpoints rapidly,
extensive manipulations may be required, but a survey of different sites shows that
it k when proper ecological understanding is combined with appropriate technology,
that effective and self-maintaining end products are produced economically.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the land reclamation we are considering in this paper, and
indeed the aim of most reclamation, is to re-establish some sort of vege-
tation cover on a degraded land surface. The particular sort of vegetation
cover will depend on the nature of the site and economic and social pres-
sures, but whatever vegetation is to be established, we must realise that
the process of establishment is not like laying tarmac or cement. Although
in all of these operations care must be taken to prepare the site or the
substructure, the final constructions are totally different. Tarmac and
concrete are inert and lie inertly on what is beneath them; vegetation is
living and depends for its sustenance and growth on what is beneath it,

0304-3924/84/$03.00 0 1984 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.


36

as well as what is above. Thus, reclamation of land with vegetation is dif-


ferent from other engineering types of operation.
Vegetation, the soil in which it has roots, and the climate which surrounds
it, have a close inter-dependence; and these three components are all them-
selves capable of being affected by, and affecting, animals including human
beings. At the same time the plants, and the animals, can interact with
each other. The whole interacting set of components forms what we term
an ecosystem whose inter-relations can be represented as in Fig. 1. The
objective of land reclamation cannot therefore be just to establish vege-
tation. It must be to establish a complete ecosystem which, because we
do not want to have to keep propping it up, should be self-sustaining.

MAN-CLIMATE

Fig. 1. The different components of an ecosystem and their interactions.

ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT AND THE NATURE OF RECLAMATION

Ecosystems have several important characteristics, which we need to


appreciate if we are going to achieve a scientific understanding of the re-
clamation process. The first and most crucial characteristic is that of na-
tural development. A newly degraded land surface starts with a raw ske-
letal soil material and no plants. The soil material begins to weather and
release nutrients, plants begin to colonise and contribute organic matter
to the soil, the environment becomes more able to sustain different and
larger species, one group of species is replaced by another, and progres-
sively a more substantial and complex ecosystem develops. This process
is known as succession, and is marked by a large number of changes, well
described by Miles (1979).
The crucial changes are in both the structure and the function of the
ecosystem. The structure becomes more complex by an increase in the
number of species and their ecological diversity. The function increases
in terms of an increase in biomass and circulation of nutrients. All this
can be seen in the simple comparison of the vegetation and soils of any
quarry 10 years and 100 years after it has become disused, or by what
has been carefully recorded after the retreat of glaciers or volcanic acti-
vity (Dickson and Cracker, 1953; Cracker and Major, 1955).
We can represent this developmental process by a Z-dimensional graph,
37

with ecosystem function and structure as the 2 axes (Fig. 2). Natural eco-
system development, or succession, then involves moving from a simple
state in the bottom left towards a more complex state in the top right.
The reclamation processes can be placed on the same graph. The various
different types of reclamation can then be differentiated. Restoration
involves putting back what was there previously as completely as possible;
rehabilitation involves progressing towards this, but achieving only partial
success. Often, no attempt will be made to restore what was present; in-
stead there is replacement of the original ecosystem by another different
one. Finally, there can be neglect, which may lead to normal succession
or, if the site is liable to erosion or some other wasting process, to further
degradation. This model is a development of those of Magnuson et al.
(1980) and Cairns (1982).
ecosystem
function

replacement

ORIGINAL
ECOSYSTEM

,eplacement

--
7 development

Or DEGRADED ECOSYSTEM

ecosystem
structure
species and complexity
Fig. 2. The process of ecosystem development.

IMPORTANT FEATURES OF NATURAL ECOSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

If the concept of ecosystem development is crucial to our understand-


ing of the reclamation process, what features of the natural process on
degraded and derelict land should we pay attention to? Many of these
are considered in detail in other papers. I would like to pay attention
to the two key processes: (a) colonisation - appearance and establishment
38

of species; (b) development of ecosystem function - increase in biomass


and circulation of nutrients.
Until plants arrive, ecosystem development cannot take place. We take
it for granted that plants are readily dispersed over quite considerable
distances; but although this applies to a few species with light seeds, or
special organs to aid dispersal by wind or animals, it does not apply to all
species. At the same time, we must remember that many of the materials
produced when land is degraded by industrial and other activities are ex-
treme in both their physical and their chemical characteristics (Bradshaw
and Chadwick, 1980) and preclude the growth of many common species,
especially the common weedy species of agricultural land which have good
powers of seed dispersal.
As a result, the primary colonisation of many areas of degraded land
is a slow process because of the absence of the propagules of appropriate
species. If eventually one or two seeds of appropriate species do arrive,
there is still a delay while these come to maturity and produce a second
generation in greater abundance, which may be a considerable period of
time for shrub species such as hawthorn (Crutaegus monogyna). At the
same time, the flora will be limited in species number. This is very apparent
in the curious limited ecosystems which have developed on the calcareous
industrial wastes in north-west England (Greenwood and Gemmell, 1978;
Bradshaw, 1983a). The species are limited to those which can tolerate
the extremely alkaline and nutrient-poor conditions. As a result, they must
have good means of dispersal, since their nearest natural source is 30-e
40 km away (Table I). Perhaps one of the most instructive species is the
creeping willow (5’u~ix repens), which must have come from the coastal
sand dunes 35 km away; after 100 years of opportunity, it is still only
represented by one or two scattered bushes. Several other species have
similar limited occurrences.
Plants cannot grow unless they have a supply of nutrients, both to pro-
vide for the needs of their es~blished biomass and for their current year’s
growth. Some idea of the amount they need is given in Table II. In a raw
skeletal soil material, although many important nutrients, particularly
phosphorus, may be present in the soil minerals, they may be unavailable
to plants. Nitrogen will inevitably be in short supply, because it does not
occur in soil minerals and is only accumulated in soils by the activity of
soil micro-org~isms which fix atmospheric nitrogen.
As a result, plant growth and ecosystem development on derelict land
material is always, initially, very slow because of nutrient deficiency. Any-
one reclaiming derelict land realises that in the absence of nutrient appli-
cations plant growth is extremely poor. Since natural ecosystem develop-
ment does not have a nutrient supply by fertilisers, what happens? In eco-
logical terms we are dealing with primary rather than secondary succession.
Nitrogen does occur in rain, about 10 kg ha-’ year-‘. This provides
a very meagre source compared with what is required from the evidence
39

TABLE I

Species found on alkali wastes in N.W. England which probably colonized from coastal
sand dunes 30-40 km away (from Bradshaw, 1983a)

Species Wastes colonized Dispersal’

Anacamptis pyramidalis Leblanc W


Blackstonia perfoliata Leblanc, sand waste, lime waste W
Briza media Leblanc W, B, A
Carlina vulgaris Leblanc W
Dactylorhira incarnata Leblanc, pfa, sand waste W
D. prae termissa Leblanc, pfa, sand waste W
Daucus carota Sand waste, lime waste B, A
Echium vulgare Lime waste B, A
Erigeron acer Leblanc, blast furnace slag W
Gymnadenia conopsea Leblanc W
Linum catharticurn Leblanc, b.f. slag, sand waste W, B, A
Ononis repens Lime waste, sand waste B, A
Orobanche minor Leblanc W
Pastinaca sativa Lime waste, sand waste B, A
Ranunculus trichophyllus Lime waste pond B, A
Salix repens Leblanc, pfa, lime waste W
Schoenoplectus lacustris Lime waste pond B, A
Vicia hirsu to Lime waste, b.g. slag B, A
V. lathyroides Lime waste B, A

’ W = Wind; B = Birds; A = Anthropogenic.

of Table II. The crucial source of nitrogen is from the activities of nitrogen
fixing micro-organisms on the roots of legume species such as clover and
lupin, and on a few other species such as alder (Alnus glutinosa). These
can cause the accumulation of 50-150 kg N ha- ’ year- ’ in the plant and
the soil. The effect of such species on surrounding vegetation can be quite
remarkable. Not only do the species themselves grow at a remarkable speed,
but as soon as the accumulated nitrogen is released, the surrounding vege-
tation begins to grow (Palaniappan et al., 1979).
Other nutrients cannot be accumulated in this manner. Small quanti-
ties fall in rain (Dennington and Chadwick, 1978), but the main source
must be the weathering of the soil minerals. The rate of supply is there-
fore very dependent on the nature of the materials themselves, both in
terms of their nutrient content and the rate at which they weather. The
material may also cause some nutrients to be locked up in insoluble form,
as is phosphorus in calcareous materials. This may itself affect the esta-
blishment of legumes, with their beneficial effects on nitrogen accumula-
tion. As a result, natural processes of ecosystem development can be very
slow in some materials and relatively fast in others, due to differences
in nutrient supply.
Examples of sites where colonisation is exceedingly slow are the cal-
40

TABLE II

Amount of nutrients required annually by ecosystems with different levels of total


production (Bradshaw, 1983a)

Nutrient’ Production level (kg ha” year-[)


content
assumed (W) 1000 5000 10 000 20 000

N 2.0 20 100 200 400


K 1.1 11 55 110 220
Mg 0.51 5.1 26 51 102
Ca 0.26 2.6 13 26 52
P 0.18 1.8 9.0 18 36

Type of ecosystem2 Tundra Pooriy Productive Tropical


and productive temperate
desert temperate and poorly
ecosystems productive
tropical

’ 9%content taken from Perkins (1978) for hill grassland; could differ somewhat in other
vegetation.
’ From Rodin and Baziievich (1967).

careous waste heaps of N.W.England. After 100 years, the heaps have still
only a sparse herbaceous vegetation cover (less than 100%) and there are
only a few slow-growing scattered bushes, due almost entirely to a serious
phosphorus deficiency because of phosphorus binding. By contrast, on
china clay wastes in Cornwall, woodland dominated by oak (Quercus pe-
trea) has developed in the same length of time, with a progressive accu-
mulation of nitrogen, due mainly to the leguminous species gorse (Uex
europaeus) and broom (Cytisus scoparins) (Roberts et al., 1981). This
is matched by the development of aspen (Populus tremuloides) woodland
on iron ore spoil banks in Illinois (Leisman, 1957).
In some situations, other factors may operate to restrict colonisation.
Heavy metals can be so toxic in older non-ferrous wastes that they can
prevent anything but scattered vegetation establishment for 100 years.
In colliery spoil, high levels of pyrite causing extreme acidity dominate
and restrict the process of colonisation. On slate waste heaps and other
quarry wastes, the extreme physical texture can again prevent any coloni-
sation at all for 100 years (Bradshaw and Chadwick, 1980).
In some situations, very slow natural ecosystem development is an ad-
vantage, since tree and shrub growth is restricted and the vegetation remains
open. Competition is reduced and the site can be a refuge for rare plants.
We have recently become aware that quarries and similar sites can be im-
portant for the conservation of our native flora (Ratcliffe, 1974). The
treatments that are then required are discussed by Gemmell(1983).
However, in most situations the rapid development of a fairly substan-
41

tial vegetation cover is required, whether it is grassland, shrubs or trees.


Under these circumstances laissez faire is not enough; specific treatments
are required.

SOIL REPLACEMENT

Since the problems of derelict and degraded land lie in the soil, the
most obvious course of action is to remove the soil from the area to be
disturbed, store it briefly, and then replace it. This option is now becoming
required more often by planning authorities, but it is not without its pro-
blems. These have been discussed by MacRae (1983).
When topsoil has been lost or disposed of earlier, it may seem obvious

10
a untreated

10
1;:
C

with added nitrogen

number
of
samples
5
I

dry weight yield (g mm*)


Fig. 3. The growth of grass on 44 different top soils used for land reclamation in N.W.
England, compared with garden soil (G), brick waste (B) and colliery spoil (C) (Bloom-
field et al., 1981).
42

to purchase it on the open market. However, the expense is likely to be


considerable. At a current price of about $3 me3 delivered and spread, the
cost for a minimum 200 mm layer is likely to be $6000 ha-‘, which is
more than the agricultural value of the land could ever be. What is perhaps
more important is that the quality is likely to be very poor. Figure 3 shows
the growth of ryegrass in an assay of 44 different “topsoils” which were
being used in N.W.England a few years ago, in comparison with good top-
soil, brick waste and colliery spoil. Half the topsoils performed no better
than brick waste, and none was as good as proper topsoil. This suggests
that it is erroneous to use topsoil unless its quality is guaranteed, which
requires a new British Standard (Bradshaw, 1983b). This is not a foolish
suggestion in view of what can now be done by directly treating the skele-
tal materials associated with degraded land.

DIRECT TREATMENT

We have seen that if a site is left to itself, natural ecological processes


will lead to ecosystem development even on very poor, skeletal materials.
Ecosystem development is inhibited only in extreme and rather special
situations. It is therefore perfectly reasonable to accept the materials of
a degraded area and treat directly the particular factors that limit rapid
ecosystem development, but this requires that the particular deficiencies
and problems of the material are recognised and treated properly. If any
problem is not dealt with adequately, it may considerably restrict the
growth of the vegetation being established, by the law of limiting factors.
A proper site survey and analysis is therefore essential and, if necessary,
appropriate field or greenhouse experiments should be undertaken. The
importance of such preliminary work cannot be stressed too much; its
costs are fractional and its savings can be out of all proportion.
The cumulative result of scientific and practical work carried out over
the last two decades is that effective solutions are now available to all
factors which may limit plant growth and ecosystem development on de-
relict land materials (Schaller and Sutton, 1978; Bradshaw and Chadwick,
1980). These are tabulated in outline form in Table III. The remarkable
point is that none of the treatments is particularly elaborate. They mostly
involve relatively simple and inexpensive operations, but their significance
and contribution to ecosystem development must be understood, other-
wise they may be applied ineffectively or inappropriately. Nowhere is
this more obvious than in the most universal problem which must be
overcome if derelict and degraded land materials are to be revegetated ef-
fectively - the lack of major plant nutrients.
It is generally realised that plant nutrients are likely to be deficient
in any area from which the developed topsoil layers have been lost. It
is also realised that this deficiency can be made good by the application
of fertiliser, usually standard agricultural complete fertiliser, and quite
43

TABLE III

The underlying problems of derelict land and their treatment

Immediate treatment Long-term treatment

Physical
Structure Too compact Rip or scarify Vegetation
Too open Compact or cover Vegetation
with fine material
Stability Unstable Stabilizer/mulch Regrade or vegetation
Moisture Too wet Drain Drain
Too dry Organic mulch Vegetation

Nutrition
Macronutrients Nitrogen Fertilizer Legume
Others Fertilizer + lime Fertilizer + lime
Micronutrients Fertilizer -

Toxicity
PH Too high Pyritic waste or Weathering
organic matter
Too low Lime Lime
Heavy metals Too high Organic mulch or Inert covering or metal-
metal-tolerant tolerant cuitivar
cuI tivar
Salinity Too high Weathering or irrigate Tolerant species or
cultivar

high rates, perhaps two applications of 500 kg ha-l of 17:17:17% N:


P10S:K20, are standard practice. This will contribute 170 kg N, 74 kg P
and 141 kg K ha-‘.
However, it is commonplace to find that in 2 or 3 years, the growth
of grass and trees is reduced and the whole vegetation takes on a mori-
bund appearance. Trials in a wide variety of situations show that this is
due to lack of nitrogen (Handley et al., 1978; Bloomfield et al., 1982)
(Fig. 4). This seems curious at first sight because of the substantial amount
of nitrogen added, about 200 kg N ha-‘, but the lack of growth can be
explained by arguments based on modem knowledge of ecosystem func-
tion.
In a normal ecosystem there is a recycling process, in which nitrogen
passes from the plant to the soil in the form of litter, which gets incor-
porated into the soil organic matter, which then decomposes and so re-
leases the nitrogen again in a form which the plants can take up. How-
ever, the decomposition rate of soil organic matter is about 5% year-‘.
If the vegetation requires 100 kg N ha-’ year-’ to maintain its growth,
there will need to be a store in the soil organic matter of 2000 kg N ha-‘.
Yet the derelict land materials will contain almost no nitrogen at the out-
set; certainly less than 500 kg N ha- I. In which case, an addition of 200 kg
44

4 000
weight second
year
eld
ha” 1

first
year

nil P K PK N NP NK NPK
Fig. 4. Grass yields, following the application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium
to poorly growing grass established on colliery spoil (Bloomfield et al., 1982). (An-
nual treatment: N 50 kg ha-‘; P 22 kg ha-‘; K 42 kg ha-‘. In the second year, yields
without retreatment are shown blank).

N ha-’ will not nearly supply the amount of nitrogen capital required,
particularly since much of it will have gone to develop the living plant
biomass.
The exact capital required will be affected by the nutrient requirements
of the developing vegetation and the organic matter decomposition rate,
both of which can vary (Bradshaw, 1983a), but observations on natural
and artificial ecosystems suggest that these values are of the right magni-
tude. The absolute minimum appears to be about 1000 kg N ha-’ (Marrs
and Bradshaw, 1982). In which case there is a serious need to increase
nitrogen inputs into the reclamation operation. This can be done by in-
creasing the fertiliser input, but to add only 1000 kg N ha-’ extra - the
minimum amount required - will cost $600 ha-‘, with spreading costs
extra. Since the spreading would have to be done over a number of years,
these could be another 6200 ha”‘.
A more economical alternative is to follow natural processes and to
include an appropriate legume, such as white clover (7’rifolium repens),
in grassland or tree lupin (Lupinus arboreus) in woodland. These can con-
tribute to the developing ecosystem over 100 kg N ha-’ year-’ even on
very poor materials, which is quite remarkable (Dancer et al., 1977, Jef-
feries et al., 1981a) (Table IV). At the same time, the organic matter they
produce has a high C:N ratio and decomposes readily, releasing the accu-
mulated nitrogen (Lanning and Williams, 1979, Jefferies et al., 1981b).
They have their own requirements for other nutrients; clover, particularly,
has a requirement for calcium and phosphorus, but these can be provided
at low cost, because calcium in the form of ground limestone is cheap,
and the total phosphorus requirement is likely to be about l/10 that of
nitrogen and can be supplied in not more than two applications.
45

TABLE IV

Net nitrogen fixation by legumes grown on sand waste (from Dancer et al., 1977)

Legume kg N haqL year-’

Trifolium pratense red clover 137


Trifolium repens white clover 133
Trifolium hybridum alsike clover 111
Trifolium dubium suckling clover 65
Medicago lupulina black medick 132
Medicago sativa lucerne 115
Lotus corniculatus birdsfoot trefoil 117
Lupinus angustifolius blue lupin 32
Vicia sativa vetch 14

The value of legumes and other nitrogen-fixing species on derelict land,


and their capacity to accumulate nitrogen even under difficult conditions,
is now well established, and they are commonly specified, but the reasons
for their use and their particular characteristics must be appreciated or
mistakes will occur.
(i) Since the contribution of the legume depends on the root nodule
organism (Rhizobium) and this will not be present in raw skeletal soils,
the seed must be inoculated with the appropriate strain of Rhizobium.
(ii) Since clovers grow and fix nitrogen very poorly below pH 5, ade-
quate lime must be applied for present and future needs. On colliery spoil,
this means allowing for pyrite in the spoil, for which methods are now
available (Costigan et al., 1981). Initial applications of 20-150 t CaCOs
ha-’ may be necessary.
(iii) Since all legumes are rather sensitive to phosphorus deficiency,
sufficient must be applied. This itself raises a further problem since, as
we have seen, derelict land materials may have high phosphorus-binding
capacities. These can be determined and allowed for (Fitter, 1974). In
some conditions it may be necessary to add 400 kg P ha-‘.
(iv) Germinating legume seeds are sensitive to high concentrations of
nitrate and phosphate in the seed bed. This will occur especially in hy-
droseeding if >200 kg ha-’ of a standard complete fertiliser is applied
in the seeding mix - the legume can be completely eliminated. This can
be avoided if most of the fertiliser is applied when the seed has germinated.
Stabilisers included in the mix can also cause problems (Roberts and E&ad-
shaw, 1983).
(v) Finally, as has been long appreciated, because legumes themselves
fix nitrogen, they are not as capable of responding to applied nitrogen
as grasses. So if high levels of fertiliser nitrogen are applied to a grass!
legume mixture, the legume will be eliminated by competition from the
grass.
46

The development of a self-sustaining ecosystem therefore requires at-


tention to detail and appropriate ecological understanding. Yet direct
treatment offers operators very considerable advantages. (a) It obviates
the engineering/soil stability problems which can arise when one material
is covered by another of different texture. (b) When materials have to
be imported for covering purposes, e.g. in refuse disposal sites, the ma-
terial can be chosen for its textural qualities and availability and not be
limited to topsoil (Bradshaw, 1983b). Excellent examples of what can be
achieved are now available for a wide range of situations, such as colliery
spoil, china clay waste, slate waste, sand and gravel and quarries.

LANDSCAPE OBJECTIVES

At the outset of this discussion, it was pointed out that reclamation


covers in reality a number of different types of process, all related to the
underlying principle of the development of ecosystem structure and func-
tion. This development process in nature can be considered to follow the
sequence open land- grass-shrubs-trees. The vegetation of the derelict
land before disturbance could have been any one of these types of ve-
getation. The temptation by legislators is to think that the reclamation
must involve merely putting back what was therefore before, i.e. resto-
ration, or at least rehabilitation.
However, this is too simplistic a view, particularly because the distur-
bance process has wiped the slate clean and provided complete freedom
in the choice of ecosystem that can be put back. There will, of course,
be social and economic constraints on the choice, and the site and the
substrate themselves will indicate that certain solutions can be achieved
more readily than others. The land will fall into a particular Land Use
Capability class, but it is important to realise that mining, quarrying and
other forms of land disturbance provide immense opportunities. The de-
velopment process can be taken to any level and then controlled at that
level, and alternative ecosystems can replace the original. We should em-
phasise that these disturbances can provide positive gains for our landscape
and not losses.
It is not possible to indicate all the possible alternatives for every type
of derelict land. The different options have recently been described (Bradshaw
and Chadwick, 1980). A detailed review of methods of quarry reclama-
tion by the Mineral Industry Research Organisation indicates the wealth
of possibilities (Table V).
Mining and quarrying are essential activities if we are to have the raw
materials for our present-day civilisation. As a result, disturbance must
occur, but what should now be clear to people, both inside and outside
the industry, is that this disturbance need not lead to degradation of our
landscape, but to its enhancement. It need not cost us more to achieve
this enhancement, but it does require a combination of imagination and
scientific skill on the part of all those involved.
47

TABLE V

Possible after-uses associated with various types of quarry workings, based on their
physical characteristics

Possible uses Excavations Tips

Deep Shallow Steep Graded

Wet Dry Wet Dry

Housing and industry X X


Agriculture X xx
Forestry XXX XX
Fish farming X XX
Intensive recreation and sport X X XX XX X
Water storage and supply X X
Extensive recreation and parks X XX xx XX x X
Nature conservation xx xx x X
Landfill and waste disposal’ X X

Possibilities: XX major; X minor.


‘Temporary land use only.

REFERENCES

Bloomfield, H.E., Handley, J.F. and Bradshaw, A.D., 1981. Top soil quality. Land-
scape Des., 135: 32-34.
Bloomfield, H.E., Handley, J.F. and Bradshaw, A.D., 1982. Nutrient deficiencies and
the aftercare of reclaimed derelict land. J. Appl. Ecol., 19: 151-158.
Bradshaw, A.D., 1983a. The reconstruction of ecosystems. J. Appl. Ecol., 20: l-17.
Bradshaw, A.D., 198313. Top soil quality - proposals for a new system. Landscape
Des., 141: 32-34.
Bradshaw, A.D. and Chadwick, M.J., 1980. The restoration of Land. Blackwell, Oxford.
Cairns, J., 1982. Restoration of damaged ecosystems. In: W.T. Mason and S. Iker
(Editors), Research on Fish and Wildlife Habitat. U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Washington, pp. 220-239.
Costigan, P.A., Bradshaw, A.D. and Gemmell, R.P., 1981. The reclamation of acidic
colliery spoil. I. Acid production potential. J. Appl. Ecol., 18: 865-878.
Cracker, R.L. and Major, J., 1955. Soil development in relation to vegetation and sur-
face age at Glacier Bay, Alaska. J. Ecol., 43: 427-448.
Dancer, W.S., Handley, J.F. and Bradshaw, A.D., 1977. Nitrogen accumulation in kaolin
mining wastes in Cornwall. II. Forage legumes. Plant Soil, 48: 303-314.
Dennington, V.N. and Chadwick, M.J., 1978. The nutrient budget of colliery spoil
tip sites. I. Nutrient input in rainfall and nutrient losses in surface run-off. J. Appl.
Ecol.. 15: 303-316.
Dickson, B.A. and Cracker, R.L., 1953. A chronosequence of soils and vegetation near
Mt. Shasta, California. J. Soil Sci., 4: 123-141, 142-154.
Fitter, A.H., 1974. A relationship between phosphorus requirement, the immobilisa-
tion of added phosphate and the phosphate buffering capacity of colliery shales.
J. Soil Sci., 25: 41-50.
Gemmell, R.P., 1983. Conservation and creation of habitats on industrial land. In:
Reclamation ‘83. Industrial Seminars, Tunbridge Wells, pp. 464-471.
48

Greenwood, E.F. and Gemmell, R.G., 1978. Derelict industrial land as a habitat for
rare Plants in SW. Lanes. (v.c. 59) and W. Lanes (v.c. 60). Watsonia, 12: 33-40.
Handley, J.F., Dancer, W.S., Sheldon, J.C. and Bradshaw, A.D., 1978. The nitrogen
problem in derelict land reclamation with special reference to the British china clay
industry. In: G.T. Goodman and M.J. Chadwick (Editors), Environmental Manage-
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