Vegetation succession at the abandoned Ogushi sulfur mine, central Japan

We surveyed plant community development at the abandoned Ogushi sulfur mine. We found seven communities dominated by the following respective species: Deschampsia flexuosa, Miscanthus sinensis, shrub willow, Gaultheria miqueliana–Betula ermanii, Sasa senanensis–Betula ermanii, willow–Betula ermanii, and Sasa kurilensis–Abies veitchii. We examined the succession of these communities, in which younger communities of low height and ground cover contained seedlings of the successive communities that were taller and had higher ground cover. To understand the development of these different communities, we surveyed damage from mining pollution and effects of immature soils formed by landslides. The average pH (H₂O) was 4.12, and aluminum concentrations were not sufficiently high to damage plant growth, except in areas where sulfur had been mined. The organic carbon and nitrogen content in soil samples were very low because of a delay in soil development caused by a large landslide in 1937. Hence, succession was positively correlated with the soil development stage. The delay in soil development after a large landslide influenced the seven successional steps of the plant communities, but mineral poisons at the abandoned Ogushi sulfur mine had no effect on succession.