Soil microbial succession following surface mining and governed by primarily deterministic factors

The soil microbiome of reclaimed mine lands contributes to the overall success of post-mining land uses. Samples were taken at a chronosequence of mine sites, which varied from 2 to 32 years in time since mining and reclamation occurred as well as a undisturbed reference grassland. The factors influencing microbial succession following surface mining disturbance were estimating using a modeling approach in concert with high throughput sequencing of 16s and ITS rRNA gene amplicons. The results of this study provide insight into the factors which influence microbial succession, and therefore overall ecosystem function, following mine land reclamation.