Prokaryotic Communities during the Self-Overgrowing of a Chemical Industry Waste Storage Facility

Abstract

High-performance sequencing using the Illumina technology has been used to investigate the diversity of prokaryotes in three soil samples (Technosols) selected on the territory of the former tailings of liquid waste of chemical production near the city of Kirovo-Chepetsk, Kirov oblast. The taxonomic richness and phylogenetic diversity of microbial communities formed in the process of regenerative succession of the technogenic landscape, in comparison with alluvial soil (Fluvisols)—a natural analogue of the one that was disturbed as a result of the disposal of waste from a chemical enterprise—is assessed. The analysis of the indicators of taxonomic richness and diversity demonstrate their lower values in the soils formed on waste in comparison with the natural soil of the background site. Twenty-six bacterial and 2 archaeal phyla of prokaryotes are identified, accounting for more than 95% of the number of classified sequences. The phylum Actinobacteria (22–41%) and Proteobacteria (20–26%) dominate. At the level of higher taxa in disturbed soils, compared with the community of natural alluvial soil, trends in the representation of phylum are revealed: a decrease in the proportion of Verrucomicrobia and an increase in the proportion of Cyanobacteria. The greatest differences between the communities of technosols and background soil are revealed at the levels of orders, families, and genera. Common and unique genera have been identified for each of the four microbiomes. The detected differences in the composition and structure of the prokaryotic component of microbial communities of disturbed soils are related to the complex of their physicochemical properties (granulometric composition, pH of soil solution, C_org content, composition of toxicants of industrial origin, humidity regime, etc.) and the nature of vegetation cover. The results are of interest for the development of new approaches in future studies of the relationship of soil microbiota with ecosystem changes caused by human activity.