title: Microbial diversity at the moderate acidic stage in three different sulfidic mine tailings dumps generating acid mine drainage.
abstract: In freshly deposited sulfidic mine tailings the pH is alkaline or circumneutral. Due to pyrite or pyrrhotite oxidation the pH is dropping over time to pH values <3 at which acidophilic iron- and sulfur-oxidizing prokaryotes prevail and accelerate the oxidation processes, well described for several mine waste sites. The microbial communities at the moderate acidic stage in mine tailings are only scarcely studied. Here we investigated the microbial diversity via 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis in eight samples (pH range 3.2-6.5) from three different sulfidic mine tailings dumps in Botswana, Germany and Sweden. In total 701 partial 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed a divergent microbial community between the three sites and at different tailings depths. Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were overall the most abundant phyla in the clone libraries. Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Nitrospira occurred less frequently. The found microbial communities were completely different to microbial communities in tailings at <pH 3 described in the literature.
authors.affiliation: Geomicrobiology Unit, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: hananeh.korehi@bgr.de.
authors.forename: Hananeh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Korehi
authors.affiliation: Geomicrobiology Unit, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: marco.bloethe@bgr.de.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Blöthe
authors.affiliation: Geomicrobiology Unit, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: axel.schippers@bgr.de.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schippers
mesh_terms: D000143:Acids; D058448:Biota; D001902:Botswana; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004322:Drainage; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005858:Germany; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013548:Sweden
chemical_list: D000143:Acids; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: Acidophiles; Firmicutes; Microbial diversity; Mine tailings; Proteobacteria; Pyrite oxidation