2nd Place: The reclamation history of formely mined land affects present-day plant-insect interactions

Human land-use alters the ecological properties of an ecosystem, including species interactions, and these changes can persist long after a disturbance takes place. Surface mining is an intensive land-use practice that drastically alters landscapes, and today, reclamation following mining is federally regulated to facilitate ecosystem recovery. Prior to this regulation, land was largely abandoned following mining. The objective of this study was to determine if the reclamation history of surface-mined land affects the likelihood of insect herbivory. We recorded the frequency of insect herbivory on Lotus corniculatus (commonly, bird’s-foot trefoil), a legume included in reclamation seed mixes, growing in both abandoned and reclaimed recovering mine land in Southeastern Ohio. To remove the effects of plant age and competition, we repeated these measurements on L. corniculatus plants that we established in the lab and transplanted in common gardens within 10 abandoned and reclaimed grasslands. In both surveyed and common-garden L. corniculatus, we found that the probability of insect herbivory was reduced by almost half in sites that were abandoned following mining compared to sites that were reclaimed. Our results suggest that the reclamation history of recovering surface mine land affects present-day plant-insect interactions. Identifying and mitigating these legacy effects is critical for maximizing the conservation potential of formerly mined land.