Bacterial community diversity and functional adaptation in heavy metal(loid)s contaminated and acidified soils from Zijinshan gold-copper mine

This study investigated the responses of soil bacterial communities to heavy metal(loid) stress and pH fluctuations in Zijinshan gold-copper mine. 16S rDNA (V4-V5) sequencing was used to analyze the bacterial community composition, diversity and functional adaptation in 18 soil samples from six sampling sites with different pollution levels and altitudes. Redundancy analysis and Pearson correlation analysis were applied to reveal the key environmental factors (Cu, As, pH) driving bacterial community variation.