Effects of fertilisation on microbial communities in short-term coal mine reclamation

The recovery of the belowground microbial community structure and diversity that occurs in long-term coal mining reclamation is critical to reclamation success. However, long-term coal mining reclamation can take similar to 10-30 years. Therefore, finding an effective method for promoting coal mine soil restoration in the short-term is necessary to minimise reclamation time. This study investigated the response of soil bacterial communities to fertilisation along a chronosequence of short-term reclamation. Fertilised and unfertilised soils with three short-term reclamation stages were examined to characterise soil properties, as well as bacterial structure and diversity. Fertilisation promoted available nitrogen, phosphate, potassium, and soil organic matter, as well as benefits in bacterial community diversity across the three stages, with the most beneficial effects at 7 years. 16S rRNA sequencing data showed that the predominant phyla across all soils were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, and Gemmatimonadetes. Abundance of each phylum was altered by reclamation time and fertilisation. Clustering and functional analysis indicated that the bacterial community structure in soils with a longer reclamation time was more similar to that in natural soils, suggesting that longer reclamation resulted in increased soil activity and bacterial community diversity, which is likely also true for fertilisation. Our results demonstrate that reclamation duration is the main driving force to recover soil properties and bacterial communities, and fertilisation could enhance the beneficial effects with longer reclamation duration. Therefore, short-term reclamation, combined with fertiliser, is a potential strategy to improve soil conditions in coal mine areas and shorten the recovery time of reclaimed soils.