The extensive conversion of forested land to mineland resulting from coal mining in the Central Appalachian ecoregion has important ramifications for ecosystem services at multiple spatial scales. Previous research has demonstrated that important components of ecosystem structure and function (e.g., vegetation density and composition; soil chemical and physical properties; hydrologic flowpaths and runoff rates; biogeochemical pools and fluxes; and surface water quality) are dramatically altered during mining and reclamation operations; owing to the nature of surface mining disturbances, some of these changes may persist for a very long time (i.e., centuries). Notwithstanding (1) our knowledge of some of these ecosystem alterations at relatively small scales and (2) the great extent of land conversion in the ecoregion, little or no effort has been focused on exploring the degree to which important ecosystem services (e.g., attenuation of flooding, carbon sequestration, primary production, nutrient retention, and water quality protection) provided by forested lands are impaired by surface mining at the river basin scale. Even less effort has gone into: (1) identification of important ecosystem non-linearities and thresholds that govern how ecosystem services are affected by mining in watersheds at different spatial and temporal scales; (2) interpretation of the evidence for or against additive (or linear) responses; and (3) implications for ecosystem recovery and management.
Results/Conclusions
In this paper we develop these concepts, relying heavily on published data from a recent comparative analysis of ecosystem services provided by surface-mined and forested watersheds in western Maryland.
