Red Hills Lignite Mine, Mississippi

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the effect of surface lignite strip mining on the soil microbiome following a chronosequence of reclamation using 16S rRNA targeted high throughput sequencing in a subtropical environment, while demonstrating the effect of vegetative cover (wood versus pasture) on the soil microbiome. This study will test the hypothesis that reclamation of the soil bacterial community will approximate that of unmined sites as the chronosequence proceeds from recent (~1 yr) to old (~13 yr) reclamation sites.