Congratulations to all 94 projects that took part in this year’s Quarry Life Award – the quality of scientific research and awareness raising has never been higher!
The Quarry Life Award 2016 national winners by contest:
Australia
1st Prize: Enhancing biodiversity and habitat suitability at the Kables Sands Plant for native amphibians
2nd Prize: Using an alternative method to assess the species diversity of rehabilitated sites
3rd Prize: Predator playground; the role of quarries in the lives of wild dogs
Benelux
1st Prize: Naturally … Art! An educational art project based on the environment at ENCI quarry Maastricht
2nd Prize: Land and freshwater snails: a too poorly known fauna of the quarries
3rd Prize: Nature and quarry
Bosnia & Herzegovina
1st Prize: Macrozoobenthos as Biodiversity and Habitat Quality Indicator of Quarry Ribnica's Hydroecosystems
2nd Prize: Mapping Types of Habitats at the Ribnica Quarry Using Contemporary Methods in Ecology
3rd Prize: Caution is the mother of wisdom
Congo
1st Prize: The preservation of endangered animal species and medicinal plant reserves in the C45 Quarry
2nd Prize: The ichtyological biodiversity and the condition factor of fish species of C-45 Quarry
3rd Prize: Phytosociological studies of different plant communities in the C45 Quarry
Czech Republic
1st Prize: Quarry exploration trail
2nd Prize: Gravel pit Hulín: towards harmony among diverse interests
Germany
1st Prize: Great impact with little effort – optimization of reptile habitats by using existing materials
2nd Prize: Nature only works if we do it together - Students “understand” the insect and plant diversity
3rd Prize: Quarry biodiversity in focus – exploring the barcode of life
Ghana
1st Prize: Determing the best soil enrichment method for reclamation using ANOVA technique
2nd Prize: Impacts of quarry dust on water resources and effects on biodiversity, the Odonata assessment
3rd Prize: Geospatial assessment of biodiversity transformations in and around the Yongwa quarry site
Indonesia
1st Prize: Exploring Calotropis gigantea’s potential as a cost-effective ameliorant in clay pit rehabilitation
2nd Prize: Determining High Adaptability Tree Species in Former Quarry Hambalang
Joint 3rd: Study of Arthropod and Earthworm Diversity as a Bioindicator for Reclamation Success; i-Drive: a Quick, Simple, and Inexpensive Method to Design a Recommendation of Reclamation on Former Limestone Quarry; Rehabilitation of Ex-Mining Area with Phytoremediation Plants and Biofertilizer Application
Kazakhstan
1st Prize: Usage of the Complex Method of Soil Enrichment
2nd Prize: Creation of enriched ecosystem and biodiversity conservation awareness
3rd Prize: Studying the role of arbuscular mycorrhiza in the formation of plant communities in quarries
Northern Europe
1st Prize: Optimizing wetland functions to local conditions in connection to quarries
2nd Prize: Strategic Restoration Guidelines for Sustainable Development at Quarry Sites
3rd Prize: Post-industrial biotopes re-imagined, a design proposal for Löten quarry, Sweden
4th Prize: Increasing biodiversity in Aru-Lõuna limestone quarry by reclamation
Poland
2nd Prize: Measures to optimize the habitat conditions within the KSM Nowogród Bobrzański
3rd Prize: Trees as a key element in the shaping of landscape and biodiversity of post-mining areas
Romania
1st Prize: Biodiversity research & raising awareness – keys for landscape and biodiversity reconstruction
2nd Prize: One Landscape, Two Stories: People and Birds
3rd Prize: Diversity, distribution, ecology of the plant communities and habitats in the Bicaz Chei quarry
Russia
1st Prize: Biodiversity in space and time
2nd Prize: DNA barcoding in algae is a first stage of the research of the quarry biodiversity and monitoring
Spain
1st Prize: Stepping ponds: enhancement of connectivity for amphibians in riverside gravel pits
2nd Prize: Writing off the problem. How does extraction of aggregate finish in beautiful landscapes?
3rd Prize: Linking quarries and their surroundings by restoration ecology for aquatic mammals
Tanzania
1st Prize: Educational, Innovative and Entertaining Biodiversity Quarry Tour
2nd Prize: Ecological Modelling of Species Richness for measuring restoration success in Wazo Hill Quarry
3rd Prize: Analyzing the role of earthworms to improve soil drainage and biodiversity at Wazo Hill Quarry
Togo
1st Prize: Wastes-soils-plants-animals: a cooperation to boost Sika-Kondji career biodiversity
2nd Prize: Impact of sustainable land management on biodiversity through agroforestry
3rd Prize: Creation of a park and installation of an integrated verge associated with apiculture in a quarry
Turkey
1st Prize: Naked rock field rehabilitation by using mutualistic life systems
2nd Prize: From quarry to lap of nature
3rd Prize: Phytoremediation of the Bozalan Quarry
Ukraine
1st Prize: Increase of ornithovariety of Rybalsky Quarry
2nd Prize: Composing a jigsaw puzzle: a sustainable ecosystem in the place of a former quarry
3rd Prize: Youth Cognitive Tourism in the used quarries/Educational tourism for youth
UK
1st Prize: Impacts of grassland restoration on availability of bat prey
2nd Prize: The invertebrate biodiversity importance of bare ground habitat in Misson sand & gravel quarry