Succession on tin-mined land in Bangka Island

A quantitative study of floristic composition and vegetation structure was conducted at Bangka Island, Indonesia. Six different vegetation types were chosen, riparian forest, abandoned farmland, and natural regeneration of tin-mined lands of different ages: 0 and barren, 7, 11 and 38 years’ old tin-mined land. The seedling composition of the oldest tin-mined land was less than 2 % similar to that of a riparian forest. Natural regeneration on 7-year old tin-mined land began with herb species belonging to Cyperaceae, Poaceae, and Melastomaceae; followed by herb species belonging to Asteraceae and Poaceae on 11-year old; then by Poaceae and shrub species of Myrtaceae on 38-year old tin-mined land. Older tin-mined land tended to have less sand, higher nutrients and cation-exchange capacity. The phosphate solubilizing bacteria showed a gradual increase along with the more newly abandoned tin-mined land but decreased in barren tin-mined land, while the number of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal spores showed the opposite.