Chong Li, Yuxuan Shi, Zhaohui Jia, Yingzhou Tang, Jie Lin, Xin Liu, Jinchi Zhang, Christoph Müller
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Global‐scale mining activities have had significant deleterious impacts on local ecosystems and the overall environment, which will necessitate robust restoration efforts. A practical approach includes combining microbial inoculants with the technology of external soil spray seeding. This approach holds the potential for sustainable abandoned mine site restoration by enhancing plant growth through the modulation of soil nutrients and microbial communities. Nonetheless, the detailed effects of microbial inoculants on specific aspects of soil microbial community functions and their complex interactions with plant growth remain underexplored, particularly in the context of restoration efforts. To bridge this gap, we performed a four‐year field study at an abandoned carbonate mine location, using metagenomic sequencing to evaluate the influence of microbial inoculants on soil microbial functionality. Our research revealed that introducing microbial inoculants greatly enhanced essential soil parameters and notably increased plant biomass. Additionally, these inoculants altered the functional gene makeup of the microbial community, significantly boosting the relative abundance of processes such as nitrogen fixation, nitrification, denitrification, assimilatory nitrate reduction (ANRA), dissimilatory nitrate reduction (DNRA), and organic phosphorus mineralization. Conversely, there was a decrease in the relative abundance of carbon degradation, phosphorus regulation, and transport processes. We observed strong correlations between the abundance of nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and plant biomass. Crucially, microbial inoculants affect plant biomass by initially altering soil properties and subsequently coordinating nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. These findings provide valuable insights into the role of microbial inoculants in mine site restoration and offer a theoretical foundation for their broader practical application.
期刊介绍:
Land Degradation & Development is an international journal which seeks to promote rational study of the recognition, monitoring, control and rehabilitation of degradation in terrestrial environments. The journal focuses on:
- what land degradation is;
- what causes land degradation;
- the impacts of land degradation
- the scale of land degradation;
- the history, current status or future trends of land degradation;
- avoidance, mitigation and control of land degradation;
- remedial actions to rehabilitate or restore degraded land;
- sustainable land management.