Life returns to the quarry

In the Vršany quarry, we see the return of nature to places that were not so long ago a symbol of industry.

The Vršany quarry in the Most region is gradually transforming from an industrial landscape of mining into a mosaic full of life. Nature is taking back its territory, and a team of biologists and soil experts from the Faculty of Environment of the ČZU are closely monitoring how nature is returning to the former mining area as part of the RUR project.

From winter until the spring, researchers are monitoring dozens of sites across the dumps and the quarry itself - specifically on the outer Slatinická dump and the inner Vršany and Jan Šverma dumps.

They are monitoring the differences between areas that have been artificially reclaimed and those that have been left to natural development - so-called succession. The result is a varied picture of a landscape where bare areas, sparse vegetation, scrub, meadows, forests and pools created naturally or by human activity meet.

 

During the winter, systematic monitoring of birds was carried out, which was supplemented in spring by monitoring of nocturnally active animals, especially bats and owls. In April, the selection of 150 sampling sites was completed for detailed monitoring of invertebrates, plants and, in collaboration with hydrobiologists, soil properties. Biologists here use a wide range of methods, from drop traps for epigeic animals to vegetation sweeps. In the summer, the research will be extended to include trapping stink bugs using bowl traps.At the selected sites mentioned above, the biology team is collaborating with the hydropedology team, which has installed TMS sensors at these sites to measure temperature and moisture at the soil surface, several centimetres above and below ground. In parallel with the installation of the sensors, initial soil sampling was also carried out to analyse the grain composition, chemical properties and soil retention capacity. 

All this data helps experts better understand how the landscape evolves after mining. The aim is not only to describe what is happening in the quarry, but also to suggest how to work sensitively with such a space in the future. The monitoring also serves as a basis for education and awareness-raising - so that such places are not perceived as "dead landscapes" but as living laboratories for the return of nature.

Nature is really coming back to the quarry. And with it, a new perspective on what a landscape that has been given a second chance can look like.

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