Abstract:Soil disruption from open-cut mining practices can adversely impact microbial communities and the ecosystem services that they mediate. Despite this, assessment of impacts of soil disruption, and the subsequent recovery of microbial communities is rarely studied. Monitoring of ecological restoration success on mine sites has traditionally focused on vegetation; however, most plants rely, at least in part, on associations with soil fungi for enhanced nutrient and water acquisition. Here, we used highthroughput … Show more
“…Increased soil pH under rehabilitation would favour fungal over bacterial decomposition (Angel et al, 2013; Tedersoo et al, 2014), which accords with both the greater fungal biomass with time since rehabilitation (Figure S8.2) and the increase in AMF biomass with increasing pH (Figure S8.5). We also found that fungal diversity was greater in soils at reference (1,088 ± 134, M ± SD ) than rehabilitated (974 ± 210) sites, unlike studies from other mine site restoration studies (Ngugi et al, 2019). Fungi are critically important in the restoration process because they recycle organic matter, improve soil structure, ameliorate metal tolerance in plants, and enhance water holding capacity (Delgado‐Baquerizo et al, 2019; Ngugi et al, 2019).…”
Section: Discussioncontrasting
confidence: 75%
“…We also found that fungal diversity was greater in soils at reference (1,088 ± 134, M ± SD) than rehabilitated (974 ± 210) sites, unlike studies from other mine site restoration studies (Ngugi et al, 2019). Fungi are critically important in the restoration process because they recycle organic matter, improve soil structure, ameliorate metal tolerance in plants, and enhance water holding capacity (Delgado-Baquerizo et al, 2019;Ngugi et al, 2019). Future work needs to further investigate how to trigger the restoration of soil microbial diversity, a major driver of ecosystem functioning, to help in achieving maximum levels of ecosystem recovery after disturbance.…”
Section: Limited Recovery Of Biotic and Functional Attributes Relativ...contrasting
1. Human-induced disturbance has substantially influenced the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems globally. However, the extent to which multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) recover following anthropogenic disturbance (ecosystem recovery) remains poorly understood.2. We report on the first study examining the temporal dynamics in recovery of multifunctionality from 3 to 12 years after the commencement of rehabilitation following mining-induced disturbance, and relate this information to changes in biota. We examined changes in 57 biotic (plants, microbial) and functional (soil) attributes associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services at four open-cut coal mines in eastern Australia.
Increasing time since commencement of rehabilitation was associated withincreases in overall multifunctionality, soil microbial abundance, plant productivity, plant structure and soil stability, but not nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration nor soil nutrients. However, the temporal responses of individual ecosystem properties varied widely, from strongly positive (e.g. litter cover, fine and coarse frass, seed biomass, microbial and fungal biomass) to strongly negative (groundstorey foliage cover). We also show that sites with more developed biota tended to have greater ecosystem multifunctionality. Moreover, recovery of plant litter was closely associated with recovery of most microbial components, soil integrity and soil respiration. Overall, however, rehabilitated | 1633
“…Increased soil pH under rehabilitation would favour fungal over bacterial decomposition (Angel et al, 2013; Tedersoo et al, 2014), which accords with both the greater fungal biomass with time since rehabilitation (Figure S8.2) and the increase in AMF biomass with increasing pH (Figure S8.5). We also found that fungal diversity was greater in soils at reference (1,088 ± 134, M ± SD ) than rehabilitated (974 ± 210) sites, unlike studies from other mine site restoration studies (Ngugi et al, 2019). Fungi are critically important in the restoration process because they recycle organic matter, improve soil structure, ameliorate metal tolerance in plants, and enhance water holding capacity (Delgado‐Baquerizo et al, 2019; Ngugi et al, 2019).…”
Section: Discussioncontrasting
confidence: 75%
“…We also found that fungal diversity was greater in soils at reference (1,088 ± 134, M ± SD) than rehabilitated (974 ± 210) sites, unlike studies from other mine site restoration studies (Ngugi et al, 2019). Fungi are critically important in the restoration process because they recycle organic matter, improve soil structure, ameliorate metal tolerance in plants, and enhance water holding capacity (Delgado-Baquerizo et al, 2019;Ngugi et al, 2019). Future work needs to further investigate how to trigger the restoration of soil microbial diversity, a major driver of ecosystem functioning, to help in achieving maximum levels of ecosystem recovery after disturbance.…”
Section: Limited Recovery Of Biotic and Functional Attributes Relativ...contrasting
1. Human-induced disturbance has substantially influenced the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems globally. However, the extent to which multiple ecosystem functions (multifunctionality) recover following anthropogenic disturbance (ecosystem recovery) remains poorly understood.2. We report on the first study examining the temporal dynamics in recovery of multifunctionality from 3 to 12 years after the commencement of rehabilitation following mining-induced disturbance, and relate this information to changes in biota. We examined changes in 57 biotic (plants, microbial) and functional (soil) attributes associated with biodiversity and ecosystem services at four open-cut coal mines in eastern Australia.
Increasing time since commencement of rehabilitation was associated withincreases in overall multifunctionality, soil microbial abundance, plant productivity, plant structure and soil stability, but not nutrient cycling, soil carbon sequestration nor soil nutrients. However, the temporal responses of individual ecosystem properties varied widely, from strongly positive (e.g. litter cover, fine and coarse frass, seed biomass, microbial and fungal biomass) to strongly negative (groundstorey foliage cover). We also show that sites with more developed biota tended to have greater ecosystem multifunctionality. Moreover, recovery of plant litter was closely associated with recovery of most microbial components, soil integrity and soil respiration. Overall, however, rehabilitated | 1633
“…On the other hand, several studies have been conducted on fungal community response to restoration chronosequence. Whlist Ngugi et al [ 62 ] demonstrated that fungal communities eventually became more similar to the reference condition over time, Kane et al [ 63 ] found no obvious trend in fungal diversity toward the reference forest. However, both investigations found that the fungal community was mostly shaped by edapic variables [ 62 , 63 ].…”
Opencast limestone mines or limestone quarries are considered challenging ecosystems for soil fungi as they are highly degraded land with specific conditions, including high temperature, prolonged sunlight exposure, and a lack of organic matter, moisture, and nutrients in soil. In such ecosystems, certain fungi can survive and have a crucial function in maintaining soil ecosystem functions. Unfortunately, we know very little about taxonomic diversity, potential functions, and the ecology of such fungi, especially for a limestone quarry in a tropical region. Here, we characterized and compared the living soil fungal communities in an opencast limestone mine, including mining site and its associated rehabilitation site (9 months post-rehabilitation), with the soil fungal community in a reference forest, using the amplicon sequencing of enrichment culture. Our results showed that living fungal richness in the quarry areas was significantly lower than that in the reference forest, and their community compositions were also significantly different. Living fungi in the mining sites mostly comprised of Ascomycota (Eurotiomycetes and Sordariomycetes) with strongly declined abundance or absence of Basidiomycota and Mucoromycota. After nine months of rehabilitation, certain taxa were introduced, such as Hypoxylon spp. and Phellinus noxius, though this change did not significantly differentiate fungal community composition between the mining and rehabilitation plots. The majority of fungi in these plots are classified as saprotrophs, which potentially produce all fifteen soil enzymes used as soil health indicators. Network analysis, which was analyzed to show insight into complex structures of living fungal community in the limestone quarry, showed a clear modular structure that was significantly impacted by different soil properties. Furthermore, this study suggests potential taxa that could be useful for future rehabilitation.
“…The ecological restoration process of mines is relatively long, and it is very necessary to monitor and evaluate the ecological characteristics of the restoration process. In the early stage, the evaluation and monitoring of the restoration effect of mining area mostly depend on the physicochemical properties of aboveground vegetation and soil [25,26]. Although soil microorganisms were affected by mining activities and had a regulatory role in ecosystem function, they were rarely monitored in prior research studies [27,28].…”
Soil microorganisms play an important role in regulating a variety of ecological functions. In recent years, the research on ecological restoration after mining has made people more aware of the importance of microbial diversity to ecosystem restoration. The present study investigated the effect of ecological restoration on microbial community structure and its relationship with soil physicochemical properties in the Dabaoshan mining area, China. High throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze and compare the microbial community composition of three types of soil (undamaged area, unrestoration area, and ecological restoration area). The contents of organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were 2.38–12.97 g/kg, 0.39–1.62 g/kg, and 0.99–1.51 g/kg, respectively. In different soil states, undamaged area and ecological restoration area were significantly higher than those in unrestoration area. The results showed that the structure of soil microbial community was significantly correlated with soil physicochemical properties, and formations in the repaired and unrepaired soils were different. Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) cluster analysis and diversity index analysis showed that soil microbial community changed at phylum and genus levels. The results showed that at the phylum level, all soil samples contained Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and actinobacteria. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria of the ecological restoration area (ER1, ER2) were the highest in relative abundance compared with other samples, accounting for more than 45%. Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the dominant phylum in the undamaged area (UD), accounting for 32.7% and 22.3%, respectively. It can be seen that soil restoration produced a new dominant population, and Proteobacteria showed an absolute competitive advantage in the mining soil.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.