Effects of Acid Mine Drainage Leakage on Bacterial Communities in Desert Grassland Soil Profiles

Acid mine drainage（AMD）is of great concern owing to its safety hazards and environmental risks. However，little is known about the effects of AMD leakage on soil physicochemical properties and bacterial communities in ecologically fragile desert steppe soils，especially in the soil profile. Therefore，an AMD-contaminated profile and clean profile were used as research objects respectively to investigate the effects of AMD on soil physicochemical properties and bacterial community composition，structure，and interactions in soil layers at different depths of desert grassland and，based on this，to analyze the driving factors of bacterial community changes. The results showed that AMD significantly decreased the pH and increased electrical conductivity（EC）and heavy metal content in the upper（0-40 cm）soil layer of the profile. The AMD-contaminated profile bacteria were dominated by Proteobacteria，Firmicutes，and Actinobacterota，whereas clean profile bacteria were dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidota，with Thermithiobacillus and Alloprevotella being the biomarkers for the contaminated and clean profiles，respectively. AMD contamination significantly reduced bacterial diversity and significantly altered bacterial community structure in the upper soil layers of the profile. The results of redundancy analysis showed that soil physicochemical properties explained 57.21% of the variation in bacterial community changes，with EC，TP，TN，As，Zn，and Pb being the main drivers of bacterial community changes. Network analyses showed that AMD contamination increased profile complexity，modularity，and intra-community competition，thereby improving bacterial community stability and resilience. In conclusion，the study provided useful information on the effects of AMD pollution on soil physicochemical properties and bacterial communities in desert steppe soils，which may help to improve the understanding of the ecological hazards of AMD pollution on soils in extreme habitats. © 2024 Science Press. All rights reserved.