The Structural and Functional State of Soil Microbiota in a Chemically Polluted Environment

The structural and functional diversity of the main ecological trophic groups of soil microorganisms in meadow soils of the Central Urals anthropogenically contaminated with heavy metals was studied. The increase in the total numbers of these microorganisms in technozems, in comparison with those in agrozems, is due to the higher abundance of iron-reducing, denitrifying, nitrogen-fixing, and sulfate-reducing bacteria, an increase in cellulolytic activity, and the dependence of these characteristics on the toxic load of the soil. A reductive structure of the microbial community with the predominance of r-strategists, which reflects earlier stages of microbiocenoses succession under soil contamination, is formed under soil pollution with heavy metals. © 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Inc.Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences: 12-I-4-2051ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by the Government of Sverdlovsk oblast, the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project no. 13-04-96056-r_ural_a), and a Program of the Presidium of the Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (project no. 12-I-4-2051)