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Opencast sand mining causes severe ecosystem degradation due to the removal of vegetation and soil. Within the framework of the ecological restoration of this type of impacts in arid ecosystems, leguminous species can have special value as nurse plants for the recruitment of other plant species. As part of the monitoring of the restoration of areas disturbed by sand extraction, our results indicated that the chemical, biochemical and microbiological parameters in the soils of an area recovered with Piscidia carthagenensis (Fabaceae) inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizas showed a clear improvement in relation to the values obtained in the disturbed area, but lower when compared with those obtained in the xerophytic scrub taken as a reference. These results indicate the importance of using native species adapted to the prevailing climatic conditions in the area, which includes the use of bio-inputs such as previously inoculated arbuscular mycorrhizae. The importance of monitoring these efforts to evaluate the success of the restoration process is also highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]