Abstract Abandoned coal mining areas represent a socio-environmental and food sovereignty challenge, as they usually present intense physical and chemical alterations and trace elements, such as cadmium. Not all plant species, thus, manage to succeed in these environments. Those that succeed are likely selected due to characteristics that facilitate their survival, such as root type, life form, and/or bioaccumulating capacity. This study aimed to analyze the morphophysiological, pollination, seed dispersal, and bioaccumulative potential of plant species occurring in abandoned coal mining areas with shorter or longer time spans since the ceasing of mining activity. We compiled a list of 451 plant species from eight studies that analyzed the floristic composition of abandoned coal mining areas in Southern Brazil, with different coal mining abandonment times (from three up to 40 years). These environments have changed regarding their species composition and other characteristics through time, such as pollination, seed dispersal, root type, and photosynthetic route. Most plants had pollination by entomophily, seed dispersal by zoochory and anemochory, fasciculated root type (in the first years), and C3 photosynthesis. In areas with longer abandonment periods, plant species richness decreased, whilst the presence of species with bioaccumulative capacity increased. These results indicate possible changes in mining areas’ local ecological structure and traits and the increased availability of trace elements in the environment, which can have indirect effects on the ecological communities, including potential human health risks given plant bioaccumulation.
Blanco et al. (Fri,) studied this question.