Bamboo can be used in the phytoremediation of heavy metal pollution. However, the characteristics of the bamboo rhizosphere archaeal community in Cr-contaminated soil under field conditions remain unclear.
In this study, high-throughput sequencing was used to examine the rhizosphere soil archaeal communities of Lei bamboo (
The results revealed U-shaped relationships between Cr [total Cr (TCr) or HCl-extractable Cr (ACr)] and two alpha indices (Chao1 and Shannon) of archaea. We also established that high Cr concentrations were associated with a significant increase in the abundance of Thaumarchaeota and significant reductions in the abundances of Crenarchaeota and Euryarchaeota. The archaeal co-occurrence networks reduced in complexity with Cr pollution, decreasing the community’s resistance to environmental disturbance.
These findings enhance our understanding of microbial responses to Cr pollution and provide a basis for developing more refined approaches for the use of bamboo in the remediation of Cr-contaminated soils.