Diversified Vegetation Cover Alleviates Microbial Resource Limitations within Soil Aggregates in Tailings.

Environ Sci Technol

Key Laboratory of Green Utilization of Critical Non-metallic Mineral Resources, Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China.

Published: October 2024

AI Article Synopsis

  • Soil microorganisms' resource demand affects their metabolism and the overall resilience and function of ecosystems.
  • This study looked at how different types of vegetation affect microbial resources in restored soils from abandoned tailings and found that adding vegetation significantly increased soil carbon and nitrogen levels, although microbial biomass did not reflect the same increase.
  • It was discovered that soil microbial activity was primarily limited by carbon and phosphorus, particularly in smaller soil aggregates, and that diverse vegetation cover can help alleviate this limitation, promoting better ecological recovery of degraded areas.

Article Abstract

Resource demand by soil microorganisms critically influences microbial metabolism and then influences ecosystem resilience and multifunctionality. The ecological remediation of abandoned tailings is a topic of broad interest, yet our understanding of microbial metabolic status in restored soils, particularly at the aggregate scale, remains limited. This study investigated microbial resources within soil aggregates from revegetated tailings and applied a vector model of ecoenzymatic stoichiometry to examine how different vegetation patterns (grassland, forest, or bare land control) impact microbial resource limitation. Five-year vegetation restoration significantly elevated carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations and their stoichiometric ratios in soil aggregates (approximately 2-fold), although these increases were not translated to in the microbial biomass and its stoichiometry. The activities of C- and phosphorus (P)-acquiring extracellular enzymes in these aggregates increased substantially postvegetation, with the most pronounced escalation in macroaggregates (>0.25 mm). The vector model results indicated soil microbial metabolism was colimited by C and P, most acutely in microaggregates (<0.25 mm). This colimitation was exacerbated by monotypic vegetation cover but mitigated under diversified vegetation cover. Soil nutrient stoichiometric ratios in vegetation restoration controlled microbial resource limitation, overshadowing the impact of heavy metals. Our findings underscore that optimizing resource allocation within soil aggregates through strategic revegetation can enhance microbial metabolism in tailings, which advocates for the implementation of diverse vegetation covers as a viable strategy to improve the ecological development of degraded landscapes.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c06081DOI Listing

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