Extreme Geochemical Conditions and Dispersal Limitation Retard Primary Succession of Microbial Communities in Gold Tailings.

ABSTRACT: Microbial community succession in tailings materials is poorly understood at present, and likely to be substantially different from similar processes in natural primary successional environments due to the unusual geochemical properties of tailings and the isolated design of tailings storage facilities. This is the first study to evaluate processes of primary succession in microbial communities colonizing unamended tailings, and compare the relative importance of stochastic (predominantly dust-borne dispersal) and deterministic (strong selection pressures from extreme geochemical properties) processes in governing community assembly rates and trajectories to those observed in natural environments. Dispersal-based recruitment required > 6 months to shift microbial community composition in u

SUBMITTER: Santini TC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6279923 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature