Detalle de: Sostenibilidad en el fitomanejo de suelos contaminados por residuos mineros: Aspectos microbiológicos y ecofisiológicos (MICROMIN)

This proposal will focus on proposing suitable scientific and technical alternatives for the phytomanagment of mine tailings in the Sierra of Cartagena La Unión (SE Spain), a semiarid area, which is especially vulnerable to the consequences of global climate change. A strategy for the environmental restoration at middle-long term will be implemented. The main goal is to evaluate the effects of the addition of organic amendments (combination compost/biochar) and/or of plant growth on the improvement of edaphic parameters for the phytomanagement of mine tailings in semiarid areas. The enhancement of soil functionality will be assessed attending to microbiological, physical, chemical and physico-chemical aspects, including the structure of microbial populations and the ecophysiology of pioneer plant species. The proposal includes field and experimental phases. The latter will be performed in mesocosms. The field part has as a main goal to evaluate the influence of edpahic gradients in the structure of the microbial populations in semiarid mine tailings. In addition, the effects of seasonal dynamics on ecology/ecophysiology of selected endemic plant species will be performed. The experimental phase will be carried out using mesocosms in a greehouse and has the goal of evaluating the effects of organic amendments (combination compost/biochar) on the structure of microbial populations and determining their sustainability and capacity to "travel" from "amended dependent systems" to self sustaining systems conditioned by plant litter.