A metagenomic survey of soil microbial communities along a revegetation chronosequence after iron ore mining

The goal of this study was to identify changes in microbial community composition, diversity and functional processes along a mineland rehabilitation chronosequence and compare these findings to pre-disturbance levels from references sites covered by native vegetation. For that, we sampled three non-rehabilitated study sites, seven study sites spanning different rehabilitation stages and three reference sites covered by natural vegetation associated to two iron ore mines from Corumbá, Southeastern Brazil. In each study site, we installed three plots of 10 x 10 m; in each plot, a composed soil sample was collected (depth 0-2 cm) for metagenomics analysis.