Effect of Coal Mining on Soil Microorganisms from Stipa krylovii Rhizosphere in Typical Grassland

Abstract

The environmental changes caused by coal mining activities caused disturbances to the plant, soil, and microbial health in the mining area. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play an important role in the ecological restoration of mining areas. However, it is less understood how soil fungal communities with multiple functional groups respond to coal mining, and the quantitative impact and risk of mining disturbance. Therefore, in this study, the effect of coal mining on soil microorganisms’ composition and diversity were analyzed near the edge of an opencast coal-mine dump in the Shengli mining area, Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia. The response strategy of soil fungi to coal mining and the stability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the soil fungal community were determined. Our results showed that coal mining affected AMF and soil fungi in areas within 900 m from the coal mine. The abundance of endophytes increased with the distance between sampling sites and the mine dump, whereas the abundance of saprotroph decreased with the distance between sampling sites and the mine dump. Saprotroph was the dominant functional flora near the mining area. The nodes percentage of Septoglomus and Claroideoglomus and AMF phylogenetic diversity near the mining area were highest. AMF responded to the mining disturbance via the variety and evolution strategy of flora. Furthermore, AMF and soil fungal communities were significantly correlated with edaphic properties and parameters. Soil available phosphorus (AP) was the main influencer of soil AMF and fungal communities. These findings evaluated the risk range of coal mining on AMF and soil fungal communities and elucidated the microbial response strategy to mining disturbance.

Coupling relationship between soil properties and plant diversity under different ecological restoration patterns in the abandoned coal mine area of southern China

“…The ecological environment background conditions of coal mine areas are always very poor, due to coal excavation, coal washing and coal gangue disposal, seriously threatening the safety of people and property (Ahirwal and Maiti, 2018). In China, coal resource utilization has recently increased rapidly due to the long-term dependence of the economic development (Xie et al, 2023). The area destroyed by mining activities has increased to 120,000 km 2 in 2020, and the number of abandoned coal mines was more than 12,000 .…”