Abstract Functional ecology provides useful tools for selecting native species for rehabilitation purposes. Here, we evaluated a list of native tree and shrub species as candidates for use in waste pile rehabilitation in the Carajas National Forest, eastern Amazon, Brazil, to increase the diversity and stability of the reinstated communities. Native species lists were compiled from vegetation inventories performed in two different ecosystems in the region, i.e., dense evergreen Amazonian forests and ferriferous savannah formations, locally known as cangas. For prospection, we evaluated the functional differences among the forest, canga and waste pile communities and computed the functional space defined by wood density and 14 leaf traits of species that had already established during former rehabilitation efforts targeting the waste piles. Native species falling within this trait space were selected for further initial rehabilitation activities, while species outside this space were considered unsuitable for this purpose. As a proof of concept, we compared the survival of seedlings of selected and nonselected tree species to evaluate their potential for initial rehabilitation activities. We found functional differences in the communities between the rehabilitating waste piles and natural environments but higher functional congruence with forest than with canga ecosystems, making the conversion of waste piles into forests more likely. The assessment of functional differences enabled the identification of additional species for initial waste pile rehabilitation; we present a list of 76 candidates for future waste pile rehabilitation activities in Carajas National Forest. Our approach was validated by the seedling survival experiment, where selected species showed higher survival than nonselected species, highlighting the suitability of the selected species for initial waste pile rehabilitation in the region to increase the species richness and functional redundancy of the reinstated communities. The validation via the seedling survival experiment furthermore encourages the replication of the proposed functional prospection procedure for other environments to be rehabilitated, with different species sets being sought for different regions.

中文翻译：

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植物功能性状指导初始矿区恢复的植物物种选择

摘要 功能生态学为选择本地物种以进行恢复提供了有用的工具。在这里，我们评估了一份本地树木和灌木物种清单，作为用于巴西亚马逊东部 Carajas 国家森林垃圾堆修复的候选物，以增加恢复社区的多样性和稳定性。本地物种清单是根据该地区两个不同生态系统中的植被清单编制的，即茂密的常绿亚马逊森林和含铁稀树草原地层，当地称为 cangas。对于勘探，我们评估了森林、坎加和垃圾堆群落之间的功能差异，并计算了由木材密度和 14 种叶子特征定义的功能空间，这些物种在之前针对垃圾堆的修复工作中已经建立。选择属于该特征空间的本地物种进行进一步的初始恢复活动，而该空间之外的物种被认为不适合此目的。作为概念证明，我们比较了选定树种和非选定树种的幼苗的存活率，以评估它们在初始恢复活动中的潜力。我们发现修复垃圾堆与自然环境之间的群落功能存在差异，但与森林相比，与坎加生态系统的功能一致性更高，使得垃圾堆更可能转化为森林。对功能差异的评估能够确定用于初始废物堆修复的其他物种；我们列出了未来在卡拉哈斯国家森林进行垃圾堆修复活动的 76 个候选者名单。我们的方法得到了幼苗存活实验的验证，其中选定的物种比非选定的物种表现出更高的存活率，突出了选定物种在该地区初始废物堆修复中的适用性，以增加恢复群落的物种丰富度和功能冗余。此外，通过幼苗存活实验进行的验证还鼓励将拟议的功能勘探程序复制到其他要恢复的环境中，为不同的地区寻找不同的物种集。强调所选物种在该地区最初的垃圾堆修复中的适用性，以增加恢复社区的物种丰富度和功能冗余。此外，通过幼苗存活实验进行的验证还鼓励将拟议的功能勘探程序复制到其他要恢复的环境中，为不同的地区寻找不同的物种集。强调所选物种在该地区最初的垃圾堆修复中的适用性，以增加恢复社区的物种丰富度和功能冗余。此外，通过幼苗存活实验进行的验证还鼓励将拟议的功能勘探程序复制到其他要恢复的环境中，为不同的地区寻找不同的物种集。