ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiological Chemistry and Geomicrobiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1633687
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Solutions for Restoring Depleted SoilsView all 6 articles
Succession characteristics and assembly process of soil microbiome at reclaimed farmlands in coal mining area
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanxi Agricultural University College of Resources and Environment, Taiyuan, China
- 2The University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
- 3University of California Davis, Davis, United States
- 4Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, China
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Clarifying the succession patterns and assembly mechanisms of soil bacterial and fungal communities across reclamation chronosequences is essential for restoring soil health and ensuring ecological stability in mining areas. We analyzed soil microbial diversity, composition, co-occurrence network structure, and assembly processes using 16S rDNA/ITS sequencing and null models at 0 (R0), 1 (R1), 6 (R6) and 10 (R10) years of post-reclamation. Results showed that (1) Compared to R0, the R10 treatment resulted in significant increases in soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP), and available potassium (AK) by 2.1-fold, 1.3-fold, 1.5-fold, and 0.4-fold, and also in activities of β-glucosidase (BG), N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase (NAG), and leucine aminopeptidase (LAP), by 17-fold, 8.7-fold, and 1.8-fold, respectively (P < 0.05). (2) Rising bacterial diversity (Shannon, Chao1) over time, contrasting with fungal diversity that declined initially before recovering. (3) As the reclamation progressed, the network complexity was increased for both bacteria and fungi, improving stability. The number of bacterial keystone taxa was first increased and then decreased, with Bacillota (formerly Firmicutes) being the dominant keystone phylum. Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Acidobacteria exhibited rapid temporal responses. The fungal keystone taxa increased progressively, with Ascomycota as the central hub phylum, while Basidiomycota and Mortierellomycota responded rapidly. (4) Enhanced bacterial functional potential (chemoheterotrophy, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, nitrification) and fungal saprotrophic capacity (undefined, wood saprotrophs) (5) Community assembly involved both deterministic (bacteria: dominated by heterogeneous selection) and stochastic processes (fungi: dispersal limitation/undominated). The partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) analysis showed that both the reclaimed coal mining and undisturbed normal farmland (NL) soils directly influenced microbial diversity and indirectly shaped microbial communities by influencing their assembly processes. These results underscore the critical role of reclamation in rebuilding soil microbial communities and restoring ecological functions in coal-mining areas.
Keywords: Bacteria, Co-occurrence network, Fungi, Loess plateau, restoration
Received: 23 May 2025; Accepted: 01 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Li, Sun, Lu, Zhang, He and Xu. 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: Minggang Xu, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, China
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