Centennial Pb-Zn Mining Pollution: Spatial Distance Impacts on Agricultural Soil Microbiota Stress Response

Mining activities pose significant threats to agricultural ecosystems through heavy metals (HMs) contamination, particularly in acidic red soils. Since there was limited research on the response mechanisms of agricultural microorganisms at different distances within typical mining areas to HMs stress, This study investigated HMs pollution patterns, microbial community dynamics, and functional gene responses in farmland surrounding a century-old Pb-Zn mine in Shuikoushan, Hengyang City, China.