Field studies in post-mining sites on epigeic invertebrate groups are scarce despite their importance in pedogenesis and ecosystem multifunctionality. This research investigated the diversity, abundance and succession of aboveground invertebrates in a rehabilitated Pb/Zn tailings chronosequence of 5, 20 and 35 years. The study also explored the trophic relationship of selected arthropods and characterized the nitrogen (N) cycle using stable isotope measurements. The abundance and species richness in most investigated groups and the dominance index Berger–Parker (BP) of aboveground invertebrates increased with rehabilitation age from 0.17 BP in early to 0.31 BP in late stage. Elemental and stable isotope ratio analysis showed that N and C soil content increased and the C/N ratio decreased with age, yet despite this increased N availability in the system, the maturing N-cycle used N efficiently. The lack of large N losses from the system despite substantial atmospheric deposition inputs was indicated by the fact that N isotope ratios (δN) in plants and animals became significantly more negative with rehabilitation age, −6.0 δN for plants, −5.0 δN for herbivores and 3.0 δN for carnivores. The length of the invertebrate food chain expanded by more than half a trophic level (2.7‰ δN) for top predator Coleoptera from early to late stage, probably reflecting more complex food webs including intra-guild predation in older communities. In conclusion, δN measurements in plants and animals provided novel insights into the N-cycle, accumulative N flows and the trophic position in post-mining sites. It is proposed that isotope ratio measurements could be used as easy-to-measure, integrating indicators of nutrient cycling and the soil food web complexity of rehabilitated mine tailings and similar soil ecosystems.

中文翻译：

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稳定同位素对修复尾矿年代序列中节肢动物食物链和氮循环的见解

尽管表层无脊椎动物群在土壤发生和生态系统多功能性方面很重要，但对采矿后地点的实地研究却很少。本研究调查了修复后的铅锌尾矿 5 年、20 年和 35 年的地上无脊椎动物的多样性、丰度和演替情况。该研究还探索了选定节肢动物的营养关系，并使用稳定同位素测量来表征氮（N）循环。大多数调查群体的丰度和物种丰富度以及地上无脊椎动物的优势指数Berger-Parker（BP）随着恢复年龄的增加而增加，从早期的0.17 BP到晚期的0.31 BP。元素和稳定同位素比分析表明，随着年龄的增长，土壤中的氮和碳含量增加，碳/氮比下降，尽管系统中氮的利用率增加，但成熟的氮循环有效地利用了氮。尽管有大量的大气沉降输入，但系统中并没有大量氮损失，这一事实表明，植物和动物中的氮同位素比 (δN) 随着恢复年龄的增加而显着变得负值，植物为 -6.0 δN，食草动物为 -5.0 δN，食肉动物 3.0 δN。从早期到晚期，顶级捕食者鞘翅目无脊椎动物食物链的长度扩大了一半以上营养级（2.7‰δN），这可能反映了更复杂的食物网，包括较老社区的行会内捕食。总之，植物和动物中的 δN 测量为氮循环、累积氮流和采矿后地点的营养位置提供了新的见解。建议使用同位素比测量作为易于测量的指标，综合养分循环指标和恢复尾矿和类似土壤生态系统的土壤食物网复杂性。