Coupling Relationship Between Soil Properties and Plant Diversity Under Different Ecological Restoration Patterns in the Abandoned Coal Mine Area of Southern China

Understanding the effects of ecological restoration in abandoned coal mines on soil and plant is important to improve the knowledge of ecosystems evolution and facilitate taking appropriate ecological restoration management practices. This study aims to evaluate the coupling relationship between plant diversity and soil properties after ecological restoration in abandoned coal mine area. The plant diversity such as Margalef index (<i>M</i>), Simpson index (<i>H</i>), Shannon-Wiener index (<i>D</i>), and Pielou index (<i>J</i>), and soil properties such as soil pH, soil water content (SWC), soil bulk density (SBD), soil organic matter (SOM), available nitrogen (AN), and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were investigated in four sites of different ecological restoration patterns, T and study the coupling relationship between them. The results indicated that: (1) the <i>Pinus massoniana</i> and <i>Schima superba</i> gardner and champ restoration (PSR) site had higher Shannon-Wiener index and Simpson index values than <i>Pinus massoniana</i> restoration (PR) site, and in herb layer, the plant diversity was significantly higher than in other layers; (2) in the PSR site, the soil properties were improved more notably than that of PR and nature restoration (NR) sites, and the plant diversity were also higher than PR site; (3) Clay, SOM, and MBC made a great contribution to the plant diversity. It was concluded that ecological restoration patterns had significant effects on soil nutrient content and plant diversity, and there exists evident coupling relationship between plant diversity and soil properties. This study has important effects of ecological restoration and management in abandoned coal mine area.