Arid Zone Research ›› 2022, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (5): 1618-1630.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2022.05.26

• Land and Water Resources • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of mine water on soil microbial community structure and diversity in desert steppe

MOU Hongxia1(),LIU Bingru2(),LI Zihao2,LI Guoqi1,MA Dongmei1   

  1. 1. School of Ecological Environment/Key Laboratory for Restoration and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystems in Northwestern China of Ministry of Education, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, Ningxia, China
    2. College of Biological Science and Engineering, North Minzu University, Yinchuan 750021, Ningxia, China
  • Received:2022-01-24 Revised:2022-04-22 Online:2022-09-15 Published:2022-10-25
  • Contact: Bingru LIU E-mail:mou18309573621@163.com;bingru.liu@163.com

Abstract:

To investigate the influence of mine water discharge on soil microbial community structure and diversity in the desert grasslands of Ningxia, high-throughput sequencing was used to analyze the composition of bacteria and fungi communities in the 0-10, 10-20, and 20-30 cm soil layers along the shore, near-shore land, and natural areas of the mine water discharge lake. The main factors of the mine water influencing the soil microbial community structure and diversity were revealed by combining these factors with soil physical, soil chemical, and other habitat factors. The results show that the mine drainage in the study area significantly changed the community composition of soil bacteria and fungi as well as the relative abundance of the soil bacteria and fungi. The main dominant phyla of bacteria in the shoreland, coastal land, and natural areas were Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, and the main dominant genus of bacteria was norrank_f_norrank _ o _ norrank _ c _ MB-A2-108. Ascomycetes was the main dominant phylum of fungi in the shoreland, coastal land, and natural areas, whereas unclassified_c_Sordariomycetes and Preussia were dominant in the shoreland area and the coastal land and natural areas, respectively. The drainage of mine water leads to significantly higher soil salinity and moisture in the waterfront area of desert grassland than in the coastal land and natural areas. Salt was found to inhibit the growth of soil bacteria and fungi but, at the same time, promoted the enrichment of halophilic bacteria in the study area. The diversity and richness of soil bacteria and fungi in shoreland areas are significantly lower than the corresponding values in natural areas, which further shows that mine water has a significant impact on the richness and diversity of soil bacteria and fungi. There was little difference in the richness and diversity of bacteria and fungi in the different soil layers. The analysis of soil environmental factors along with the diversity of soil bacteria and fungi showed that soil salinity, water content, organic carbon, and pH are the main influencing factors on the diversity of soil bacteria and fungi in the desert grasslands of Ningxia.

Key words: mine water, desert steppe, soil, microbial community, high throughput sequencing