Abstract: To understand vegetation restoration in alpine coal mining area, we investigated the vegetation and soil characteristics of sites with soil inoculation under different restoration durations (1, 3, and 5 years) in Jiangcang mining area of Muli Coal Field. The results showed that, compared with one-year duration of restoration, the aboveground biomass of vegetation was significantly increased three years after restoration(P<0.05). The vegetation height, coverage, aboveground biomass, seed number, and seeding height and coverage were significantly higher after five years restoration(P<0.05). Except soil total K, soil physicochemical propertiesimproved over time (P<0.05). The abundance of soil bacteria decreased by 19% (P<0.05), while that of soil fungi and actinomycetes significantly increased(P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that soil physicochemical properties (except soil pH) were significantly correlated with vegetation characteristics. The abundance of soil fungi and actinomycetes was significantly correlated with soil nitrogen, organic matter and water content(P<0.05). Our results indicated that the recovery of soil physical properties lagged behind chemical properties during vegetation restoration in alpine coal mining region. In the early stage of restoration, application of enough organic fertilizer combined timely addition of chemical fertilizer would accelerate the restoration of vegetation in alpine coal mining area.

Key words: photosynthetic physiology, sap flow rate, Populus ×euramericana cv. ‘74/76’, dye solution introduction