Succession of vegetation on dumps around the town of Kladno

The rate and directions of spontaneous vegetation succession in relation to enviromental factors such as successional age, vegetation occuring in the surroundings, distance of studied plots from the edge of a dump, orientation to the cardinal points and the angle of the slope was studied in 19 spoil heaps from black coal mining around the town of Kladno, Czech Republic. The dumps ranged in age from 10 to more then 100 years since abandonment. Vegetation categories in the surroundings, age and angle of the slope significantly influenced the course of the succession, which led to a formation of either shrubwood or woodland with especially Acer platanoides , A. pseudoplatanus and Tilia cordata, including the invasive species Robinia pseudacacia. Based on the results it was concluded that technical reclamation is unsuitable for the dumps except for small parts where native species of trees can be planted or for the slopes that need to be protected against erosion. The research was conducted from 2005 to 2007