Responses of fungal communities along a chronosequence succession in soils of a tailing dam with reclamation by Heteropogon contortus

Ying Yang; Yi Huang; Xue Tang; Ying Li; Jianing Liu; Hanyu Li; Xin Cheng; Xiangjun Pei; Haoran Duan

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112270

Responses of fungal communities along a chronosequence succession in soils of a tailing dam with reclamation by Heteropogon contortus

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Apr 28:218:112270. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112270. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ying Yang¹, Yi Huang², Xue Tang¹, Ying Li¹, Jianing Liu³, Hanyu Li³, Xin Cheng³, Xiangjun Pei⁴, Haoran Duan¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Geosciences, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan, China.
² College of Geosciences, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan, China; State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, College of Ecology and Environment, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan, China. Electronic address: huangyi@cdut.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, College of Ecology and Environment, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan, China.
⁴ College of Geosciences, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan, China; State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, College of Ecology and Environment, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu 610059, Sichuan, China.

PMID: 33932655
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.112270

Abstract

Phytoremediation can obviously change the fungal communities in the soils, which will significantly impact carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycling in ecological system. So far, the relationship between soil fungal communities and environmental factors is still poorly understood along a long chronosequence. In this study, fungal communities in the surface and rhizosphere soils of a tailing dam with Heteropogon contortus phytoremediation were investigated to explore the evolution of fungal community in a span of 50 years. The results showed that microbial community diversity increases along with time series of Heteropogon contortus phytoremediation. The dominant Dothideomycetes (20.86%), Agaricomycetes (18.09%), and Arthoniomycetes (1.69%) in rhizosphere soils were relatively higher than those in topsoil (13.9%, 2.65%, and 0.20%) at class level. Spearman correction analysis by phylum level was conducted to detect whether microflora was related to soil Physico-chemical properties, which affecting the composition of fungal communities along with the Heteropogon contortus phytoremediation. The nitrogen cycle indicators represented good linear correlations as chronosequence goes on, the indexes in the rhizosphere soil were much higher than those in the surface soils and the highest level has occurred in the 47-year-old Heteropogon contortus phytoremediation. The relative abundance of plant pathogen, wood saprotroph, dung saprotroph, and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal showed an upward tendency in rhizosphere soils along with the Heteropogon contortus phytoremediation. The highest soil fungal communities abundance and diversity were possibly attributed to the high-quality Heteropogon contortus litter returning to the ground and artificial disturbance treatments. Such changes in soil fungal communities might demonstrate a significant step forward and provided theoretical support for the biological governance of Heteropogon contortus phytoremediation in 50 years. Our study provides an insight on microbial communities connecting with soil C, N, P and S cycles and community functions in a complex plant-fungal-soil system along a long chronosequence in mine micro-ecology.

Keywords: Chronosequence; Fungal communities; Mine tailings; Rhizosphere soil; Surface soil.