97% OTU centroid sequences for paper "Indigenous inoculant dampens the impact of remediation of heavy metal polluted soil on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities"

The finite resource of fertile soil can take thousands of years to develop. Non-degradable toxic metals (i.e. heavy metals), pose a significant health risk due to their longevity in the environment. Soil washing with EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) has been shown to remove toxic metals (Pb, Zn, Cd), but this process can also have a significant impact on soil microbial diversity, particularly on fungal communities. In this study, we investigated using molecular methods (18S rRNA amplicon sequencing) the development of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities in the roots ofLolium perenneafter soil remediation treatment with EDTA. Plants were grown on two soil types (calcareous and acidic), in remediated and control (unremediated, polluted) soils, and with or without the addition of a local environmental inoculant (grassland rhizosphere soil and roots). The addition of the inoculant increased the richness and evenness of AM fungal taxa and reduced the dissimilarity of communities between remediated and unremediated soils. Disturbance from the remediation process and inoculation lead to a shift in the identity of dominant taxa reflecting different traits among the AM fungi in the studied soils. This suggested two main mechanisms behind community development in remediated soils, i.e. priority effects and competitive exclusion among dominant taxa. This study is a crucial step towards understanding the restoration of AM fungal communities in remediated soils and interventions that can enhance their diversity (e.g. inoculation with native fungi). These findings emphasise the importance of nature-based solutions (indigenous environmental inoculants) and AM fungi for sustainable soil management practices and the restoration of soil diversity in sites that have been exposed to various disturbances affecting their diversity which may include contaminated sites and soil remediation as well as conventional agricultural systems, and urban soils.