Soil bacterial community responses to cadmium and lead stabilization during ecological restoration of an abandoned mine

Abstract Ecological restoration refers to the gradual recovery of damaged ecosystems by utilizing their self‐recovery capacity and artificial measures. It is considered as an effective technique to alleviate heavy metal pollution in open‐pit mining soils. However, little is known about the stability of heavy metals and soil bacterial responses in artificially restored soil‐plant systems. In this study, different vegetation restoration strategies were established in the Dabaoshan mining area, China, and the accumulation and transfer of Cd/Pb in the soil‐plant system and the responses of the soil bacterial community were investigated. Results showed that ecological restoration with a combination of trees, shrubs and grasses/herbs could increase soil cation‐exchange capacity and organic matter content, but not soil pH. The mixture of trees, shrubs and grasses/herbs was most effective for reducing the available Pb content to 33.7% of the content in the control, and the mixture of trees and grasses/herbs was beneficial in reducing Cd to 60.4% of the content in the control. Data showed that ecological restoration could change the quantity, composition and community structure of soil microorganisms. The soils in which a mixture of trees, shrubs and grasses/herbs were grown had the greatest abundance and diversity of bacteria; the abundances of Proteobacteria increased by 12% and Actinobacteria by 5% from those of the control. Plant coverage, soil available Cd content, and organic matter emerged as major determinants of bacterial community composition. This study demonstrates a promising remediation strategy for limiting Cd/Pb mobility in mining areas.