Abstract

The importance of the microbiome in the functioning of degraded lands in industrialised zones is significant. However, little is known about how environmental parameters affect microbial abundance, structure, diversity, and especially specific guilds involved in the nitrogen cycle in saline soils influenced by the soda industry. To address this knowledge gap, our research focused on assessing the microbiota in relation to soil properties and plant species composition across two transects representing different types of land use: saline wasteland and arable fields. Our findings show that the microbial communities were the most affected not only by soil salinity but also by pH and the composition of plant species. Taxonomic variability was the most shaped by salinity together with management type and CaCO3 content. The impact of salinity on the soil microbiome was manifested in a reduced abundance of bacteria and fungi, a lower number of observed phylotypes, reduced modularity, and a lower abundance of the nitrifying guild. Denitrification and nitrogen fixation were less affected by salinity. The last process was correlated with calcium carbonate. CaCO3 was also associated with microbial taxonomic variability and the overall microbial activity caused by hydrolases, which could aid organic matter turnover in saline but carbonate-rich sites. Bacterial genera such as Bacillus, Peanibacillus, and Rhodomicrobium, in addition to fungal taxa such as Cadophora, Mortierella globalpina, Preussia flanaganii, and Chrysosporium pseudomerdarium, show potential as favourable candidates for possible bioremediation initiatives. These results can be applied to future land reclamation projects.

Keywords

Microbial variability; Diversity; N-cycle; Salinity; SUITMAs; Human impact

Published in

Science of the Total Environment
2023, Volume: 905, article number: 167380

SLU Authors

• Szabó, Attila

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Centre for Ecological Research

Associated SLU-program

SLU Plant Protection Network


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences
Soil Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167380

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/128301