How do high phosphate concentrations affect soil microbial communities after a century of ecosystem self‐reclamation?

• Published in: Environmental microbiology reports Vol. 16; no. 5; pp. e70003 - n/a
• Main Authors: Ducousso‐Détrez, Amandine, Morvan, Simon, Fontaine, Joël, Hijri, Mohamed, Sahraoui, Anissa Lounès‐Hadj
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.10.2024; Wiley
• Subjects: Agriculture; Agromyces; Ascomycota; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Basidiomycota; Ecosystem; Ecosystem restoration; ecosystems; Environmental Sciences; Fertilizers; Flowers & plants; fungal communities; Fungi; Fungi - classification; Fungi - genetics; Fungi - isolation & purification; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Life Sciences; Microbial activity; Microorganisms; Mining; Mycobacterium; Phosphate; Phosphates - metabolism; Plant Roots - microbiology; Plant species; Proteobacteria; Reclamation; Rock phosphate; soil; Soil - chemistry; Soil Microbiology; soil restoration; Soils; soluble phosphates; species; Streptomyces; Sustainable agriculture; Sustainable development
• ISSN: 1758-2229; 1758-2229
• DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.70003

The use of rock phosphate (RP) instead of soluble phosphate fertilizers is preferred for the development of more sustainable agriculture. However, the impact of high concentrations in RP on bacterial and fungal communities remains poorly documented. Thus, next‐generation sequencing was used to characterize bacterial and fungal communities in the soils and roots of four plant species growing naturally in a self‐restored ecosystem, on former open‐pit phosphate mines where past exploitation generated locally a substantial phosphate enrichment of the soil. Our results show that bacterial communities are dominated by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria phyla, while the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota phyla predominate in the fungal community. The alpha and beta diversities of both bacterial and fungal communities differ significantly between the root and soil compartments but are not significantly affected by RP inputs. However, Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs) indicative of RP‐enriched soils have been identified; among them are bacteria representative of Streptomyces, Bacillus, Mycobacterium or Agromyces. Implications of these results open new ways of reflection to understand the microbial response following RP‐inputs and long‐term soil restoration, as well as to formulate microbial‐based bioinoculants for sustainable agriculture applications based on microorganisms better adapted to high concentrations of RP. We studied soil microbial communities in former phosphate mining areas, where substantial differences in soil phosphorus concentrations persist due to past mining activities. The results show striking similarities in microbiome patterns regardless of phosphorus concentrations. However, we identified indicator taxa for phosphorus‐enriched sites. We discussed the extent to which historical contingencies and microbial life strategies might explain these findings and proposed relevant avenues for formulating bio‐inoculants for agriculture or land reclamation.