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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 61(8)

Bacterial succession in an abandoned circum-neutral opencast coal mine in India

Sohini Banerjee https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2911-2650 A B C , Arijit Misra A , Abhijit Sar A , Srikanta Pal A , Shibani Chaudhury B and Bomba Dam https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2417-2088 A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Microbiology Laboratory, Department of Botany (DST-FIST & UGC-DRS Funded), Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati (A Central University), Santiniketan, West Bengal 731235, India.

B Department of Environmental Studies, Institute of Science, Visva-Bharati (A Central University), Santiniketan, West Bengal 731235, India.

C Present Address: Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

* Correspondence to: bomba.dam@visva-bharati.ac.in

Handling Editor: Nathan Basiliko

Soil Research 61(8) 831-842 https://doi.org/10.1071/SR22135
Submitted: 29 July 2022  Accepted: 21 August 2023  Published: 15 September 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Context

Abandoned mines provide an ideal opportunity to study the succession of microbial communities, which is crucial for the development and stability of the soil.

Aims

We examined the diversity and temporal succession of the microbial community in an abandoned coal mine.

Methods

We investigated soil geochemical parameters and microbial succession using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequences over a 4-year period in a derelict opencast circum-neutral coal mine in Tasra colliery, Jharkhand, India.

Results

Soil pH (4.46–6.13), organic carbon (0.86–4.53%), available nitrogen (0.001–0.003%) and total cultivable heterotrophic microbial load increased, and concentrations of chloride (24 865–15 067 ppm), sulfate (26 417–417 ppm) and heavy metals reduced over the period of 4 years. The 16S rRNA gene sequences identified Proteobacteria as the dominant phylum across samples except for the fourth year, where Actinobacteria was predominant. Chlorobi, WPS-2 and Spirochaetes were exclusively identified in the first year. Twelve phyla present in the first year were completely absent by the end. In the fourth year, an abundance of nitrogen-fixing members such as Burkholderiales, Rhizobiales, Roseiflexales and Actinomycetales was noted and semi-quantitative PCR suggested that nitrogenases were predominately vanadium dependent (relative to molybdenum). Gradual shifts from purportedly chemolithotrophic to heterotrophic metabolic strategies were also observed.

Conclusion

This work establishes that soil improvement in abandoned coal mines involves the dynamic interplay of physicochemical parameters and shifts in microbial communities and dominant metabolic guilds. This knowledge can be used to plan and monitor remediation measures in such sites.

Keywords: 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing, abandoned coal mine, alternative nitrogenase, microbial communities, nutrients in soil, rehabilitation, soil microbial ecology, temporal succession.

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