Influence of soil age on soil properties, microbial community structure and functional potential

We investigated the microbial community structure variations in soil across a chronosequence of mixed vegetation developed on coalmine overburden spoils compared to natural forest ecosystems. The specific objectives of this study are to: (1) characterize microbial community structure across different aged vegetation sites on coalmine overburden spoils and natural forest soils and (2) identify key soil environmental factors driving microbial community assembly during restoration succession.