title: Does arsenic play an important role in the soil microbial community around a typical arsenic mining area?
abstract: Arsenic (As) can cause serious hazards to human health, especially in mining areas. Soil bacterial communities, which are critical parts of the soil ecosystem, were analyzed directly for soil environmental factors. As a consequence, it is of great significance to understand the ecological risk of arsenic contamination on bacteria, especially at the local scale. In this study, 33 pairs of soil and grain samples were collected from the corn and paddy fields around an arsenic mining area in Shimen County in Hunan Province, China. Significant differences were found between the soil nitrogen, As concentrations, and bacteria activities among these two types of land use. According to the structural equation model (SEM) analysis, compared with other environmental factors, soil As was not the key factor affecting the bacterial community, even when grain As was beyond the threshold of the national food hygiene standards of China. In the corn field, soil pH was the main factor dominating the bacterial richness, composition and grain As. Meanwhile, in the paddy field the soil total nitrogen (TN) and total carbon (TC) were the main factors impacting the bacterial richness, and the bacterial community composition was mainly affected by pH. The interactions between grain As and soil As were weak in the corn field. The bacterial communities played important roles in the food chain risk of As. The local policy of transforming paddy soil to dry land could greatly reduce the health risk of As through the food chain.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
authors.forename: Jun-Tao
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Geographic Science and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: yangj@igsnrr.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Wetland Research, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. Electronic address: zhengym@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yuan-Ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D001151:Arsenic / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D044822:Biodiversity; D002681:China; D004032:Diet; D017753:Ecosystem; D002523:Edible Grain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D020387:Food Chain; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008906:Mining; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D012275:Oryza / Q000378:metabolism; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D014867:Water; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014867:Water; D001151:Arsenic; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Basic soil properties; Grain As; Health risk; Land-use; Structural equation model (SEM)