ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Ecosystem Restoration
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1590925
Microbial Community Structure and Potential Functional Diversity in a Post-Mining Ecosystem of Central China
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hunan Coal Science Research Institute, Changsha, China
- 2School of Minerals and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China
- 3Central South University, Changsha, China
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Abandoned coal mines cause severe soil degradation, water pollution, and biodiversity loss. This study characterizes microbial community dynamics across distinct microhabitats-slag-enriched soil (D-1), waterlogged sediment (W-3), and acidic wastewater (W-5)-in Hunan mining areas. High-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing revealed Proteobacteria (31-60%) dominance across sites, with Firmicutes enriched in acidic W-5 (49%) and Bacteroidetes in organic-rich D-1 (21%). Community diversity significantly diverged along pH/metal gradients (db-RDA: pH explained 74.8% variation, p<0.001), correlating with environmental stressors. Functional predictions (PICRUSt/FAPROTAX) suggest potential adaptations: sulfur oxidation increased in acidic zones (25.7%), while organic degradation peaked in contaminated soils (38.1%). These community-environment linkages support bioremediation design: augmenting acid-tolerant taxa in low-pH zones and pollutant-degrading microbes in metal-impacted soils to accelerate ecological restoration.
Keywords: Microbial Diversity, 16S rRNA sequencing, Abandoned coal mines, metal pollution, Microbial remediation, biogeochemical cycles
Received: 11 Mar 2025; Accepted: 04 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xu, Tan, Liu, Qiu and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yu Yang, Central South University, Changsha, China
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