Soil physicochemical properties of 7 different collection sites
(Table 1)
Table 1
Soil physicochemical properties from each collection site
Soil | pH | SOM (g·Kg− 1) | Soil bulk density (g·cm− 3) | Soil density (g·cm− 3) | Fresh soil | LFMMS (10− 8·m3·Kg− 1) | Low-frequency susceptibility factor (%) | EC (µS·cm− 1) | TC (g·Kg− 1) | Solid TOC (g·Kg− 1) | NO2− (µg·Kg− 1) | NH4+-N (mg·Kg− 1) | NO3−-N (mg·Kg− 1) | SON (mg·Kg− 1) | TN (mg·Kg− 1) |
Dry matter content (%) | Moisture content (%) |
S1 | 4.98 | 8.84 ± 0.12 | 1.13 ± 0.027 | 1.25 ± 0.0093 | 75.29% | 32.82% | 5.85 ± 0.01 | 9.09% | 20.31 ± 0.06 | 7.85 ± 0.80 | 6.43 ± 0.53 | 2.55 ± 0.040 | 3.84 ± 0.27 | 3.88 ± 0.07 | 785.93 ± 25.41 | 793.66 ± 26.21 |
S2 | 5.10 | 27.25 ± 0.54 | 1.01 ± 0.003 | 1.76 ± 0.033 | 75.70% | 32.09% | 35.01 ± 0.04 | 9.60% | 30.23 ± 0.06 | 15.49 ± 1.01 | 12.31 ± 0.21 | 0.75 ± 0.039 | 40.21 ± 0.46 | 6.48 ± 0.12 | 4281.37 ± 78.34 | 4328.08 ± 81.24 |
S3 | 6.69 | 17.80 ± 0.47 | 1.17 ± 0.029 | 1.85 ± 0.0088 | 78.12% | 28.01% | 43.55 ± 0.09 | 5.71% | 27.30 ± 0.01 | 12.26 ± 2.16 | 10.22 ± 0.19 | 2.36 ± 0.067 | 4.24 ± 0.05 | 1.96 ± 0.11 | 1599.15 ± 19.56 | 1605.36 ± 18.49 |
S4 | 5.10 | 13.46 ± 0.33 | 1.19 ± 0.009 | 2.61 ± 0.0069 | 76.23% | 31.18% | 29.55 ± 0.10 | 9.43% | 15.46 ± 0.11 | 8.45 ± 0.41 | 6.61 ± 0.07 | 0.68 ± 0.039 | 28.16 ± 0.31 | 6.69 ± 0.06 | 1153.11 ± 61.31 | 1187.97 ± 60.40 |
S5 | 4.85 | 13.77 ± 0.33 | 1.26 ± 0.006 | 1.50 ± 0.029 | 76.00% | 31.58% | 22.26 ± 0.03 | 9.25% | 27.40 ± 0.01 | 9.85 ± 003 | 7.52 ± 0.31 | 1.56 ± 0.038 | 16.22 ± 2.79 | 8.77 ± 0.13 | 5162.99 ± 121.46 | 5188.19 ± 117.95 |
S6 | 7.09 | 10.69 ± 0.035 | 1.51 ± 0.020 | 1.66 ± 0.019 | 78.06% | 26.91% | 24.33 ± 0.02 | 2.19% | 115.07 ± 0.25 | 7.51 ± 0.25 | 5.60 ± 0.23 | 2.86 ± 0.040 | 3.49 ± 0.10 | 8.87 ± 0.12 | 5486.26 ± 132.51 | 5498.63 ± 122.41 |
S7 | 5.91 | 12.65 ± 0.28 | 1.30 ± 0.014 | 1.57 ± 0.048 | 77.73% | 28.65% | 14.79 ± 0.08 | 10.94% | 25.4 ± 0.01 | 9.12 ± 0.79 | 6.55 ± 0.19 | 2.11 ± 0.002 | 15.17 ± 0.10 | 8.64 ± 0.22 | 2985.51 ± 45.54 | 3009.32 ± 51.94 |
The data were expressed as the mean of individual observations with standard deviation (mean ± SD) |
The physicochemical characteristics of soil samples from each collection site were comprehensively detailed in Table 1. Variations in soil pH were observed across locations, ranging from 4.85 to 7.09, while SOM and bulk density spanned from 8.84 to 27.25 g·Kg− 1 and 1.01 to 1.51 g·cm− 3, respectively. LFMMS and EC were employed as indicators of magnetization and salinity levels within the soil. Consequently, these properties were measured for soil samples collected in proximity to the electric power substation. As indicated in Table 1, all soil samples exhibited relative low LFMMS (< 45×10− 8·m3·Kg− 1) and EC (< 200 µS·cm− 1). Notably, the EC for soil collected site S6
(115.07 ± 0.25 µS·cm− 1), the closest to the power substation, was significantly higher than those at other points. Furthermore, the TC and TOC content in the soil samples fell within the range of 7.51 to 15.49 g·Kg− 1 and 5.60 to 10.22 g·Kg− 1, respectively. Nevertheless, the TC and TOC content in the soil samples from S6 were lower than those at other collection sites. It was noteworthy that the TN content (5.50 g·Kg− 1) at the S6 site surpassed that observed in other collection sites (see Table 1). Considering that TN predominantly comprises SON, fixed nitrogen was primarily utilized for biomolecule synthesis by plants and microorganisms. Inorganic nitrogen contents were considerably lower in comparison to SON content. The NO3−-N content in the S5 and S6 sites exceeded that in the remaining collection sites (Table 1). Conversely, for NH4+-N, the lowest content was observed at the S6 site compared to other collection points, with its content being lower than that of NO3−-N.
(Table 2)
Table 2
Content of soil enzymes from each collection site
Soil Sample | MDA (nmol·L− 1) | SOD (U·mL− 1) | GSH (ng·L− 1) | LDH (IU·L− 1) | Acid protease (U·L− 1) | Acid phosphatase (IU·L− 1) | Soil Sucrase (U·L− 1) |
S1 | 8.19 ± 0.52 | 18.96 ± 0.47 | 45.40 ± 1.16 | 47.70 ± 0.86 | 209.46 ± 16.75 | 46.36 ± 1.27 | 857.25 ± 50.14 |
S2 | 8.41 ± 0.32 | 17.67 ± 0.38 | 51.08 ± 2.02 | 44.25 ± 3.71 | 218.77 ± 15.88 | 47.26 ± 1.19 | 942.78 ± 53.68 |
S3 | 9.18 ± 0.26 | 18.85 ± 0.85 | 52.09 ± 1.19 | 58.06 ± 2.86 | 260.03 ± 2.54 | 50.01 ± 1.27 | 864.37 ± 41.92 |
S4 | 9.40 ± 0.31 | 16.54 ± 0.12 | 55.70 ± 2.73 | 46.81 ± 2.67 | 234.43 ± 9.18 | 51.43 ± 2.78 | 853.59 ± 58.70 |
S5 | 9.17 ± 0.33 | 20.47 ± 0.21 | 58.10 ± 2.26 | 56.78 ± 2.00 | 227.70 ± 9.93 | 40.94 ± 2.30 | 994.84 ± 43.49 |
S6 | 9.46 ± 0.16 | 21.08 ± 0.97 | 58.14 ± 1.51 | 62.09 ± 1.50 | 267.04 ± 12.80 | 53.04 ± 2.66 | 1066.92 ± 45.93 |
S7 | 8.05 ± 0.07 | 16.90 ± 1.04 | 49.79 ± 2.21 | 53.15 ± 1.85 | 224.85 ± 3.00 | 48.00 ± 2.25 | 904.36 ± 72.36 |
The data were expressed as the mean of individual observations with standard deviation (mean ± SD) |
We also assessed several types of soil enzyme content as key indicators for microbial functioning controlling the decomposition rate of soil organic matter and nutrient cycling processes, evaluating the influence of the operation of the electric power substation on the soil. In this study, the content of MDA, SOD, GSH and LDH in the soil samples from S6 was marginally higher than those at other collection sites, although not statistically significant (Table 2). Similar trends were observed for the content of acid protease, acid phosphatase and soil sucrase.
Soil microbial characteristics of 7 different collection sites
Metagenomic sequencing was conducted on the 7 distinct soil sample surrounding an electric power substation, yielding an average of 7.21 million reads per sample (Table S2). From these metagenomes, 5,694,546 non-redundant catalog genes were identified, characterized by an average length of 637.2bp. Among them, there were 1,648,487 genes annotated by KEEG with an annotation rate of 0.289, suggesting that the existence of numerous genes with functions yet to be elucidated. Representative sequences of the non-redundant gene catalog were annotated using the NCBI NR database (Version: 2021.11) through BLASTP implemented in Diamond (Buchfink et al., 2015) (http://www.diamondsearch.org/index.php, version 0.8.35), with an e-value cutoff of 1e-5 for taxonomic annotations. In the Initial phase of analysis, an alpha diversity assessment was undertaken to evaluate species richness within the soil samples. As illustrated in Fig. 2ab, a substantial difference in the richness and alpha diversity of soil microbes was evident among the 7 sites, as indicated by the Shannon index (ρ < 0.05) and Simpson index (ρ < 0.05). This observation suggested that the uniformity and richness of microbial diversity were influenced by the distance of the sampling point from the electric power substation. Notably, soil samples from S6
and S7, representing the sites nearest and furthest from the power substation, respectively, exhibited the highest values of Simpson index.
Furthermore, the analysis of beta diversity in soil microbial communities, employing NMDS and PCoA to elucidate differences in species composition, unveiled significant variation among the collection sites. Utilizing Bray–Curtis distance measurements, both NMDS (Fig. 2c-e) and PCoA (Figure S1a-c) highlighted noteworthy dissimilarities in the community composition of bacteria (stress < 0.05; PERMANOVA: ρ = 0.001) across the 7 sites. The microbial communities of sites (S1–S2) and (S4–S5) exhibited tight clustering, indicating a relatively consistent microbial community composition at the S1 and S2 sites, as well as the S4 and S5 sites. However, sites S3, S6 and S7 were distinctly separated, signifying inconsistency in the microbial community composition at these locations. In contrast, the fungal community structure did not demonstrate representativeness (stress > 0.05) across the 7 sites (Fig. 2f-h), but exhibited significant differences at the phylum, genus and species levels (PERMANOVA: ρ = 0.001) (Figure S1d-f).
Soil microbial communities of 7 different collection sites
Bacterial phyla within soil samples from each collection site were analyzed at the phylum level (Fig. 3a). Legends presenting relative abundance below the top 30 were excluded and categorized into other groups. The predominant bacterial populations, encompassing Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Chloroflexi, collectively constituted over 65% of the total microbial population across all soil samples. Acidobacteria, the most abundant bacterial phylum, exhibited reduced abundance at the S6 (13.03%) and S7 (11.31%) sites relative to other collection points. The average relative abundance of Proteobacteria at the S6 site (42.64%) surpassed that of other sites. The phylum Actinobacteria attained its highest relative abundance at the S5 site (29.26%) and its lowest at the S3 site (6.15%). Chloroflexi exhibited notably lower relative abundance at the S6 site (1.55%) compared to the S1 (11.66%), S2 (5.89%), S3 (2.56%), S4 (10.94%), S5 (8.77%) and S7 (9.86%) sites (Fig. 3a). The relative notable enrichment of Gemmatimonadetes was observed at the S3 (8.31%) and S6 (10.35%) sites (Fig. 3a), exceeding that at the S1 (1.34%), S2 (1.15%), S4 (1.14%), S5 (1.60%) and S7 (6.34%). Bacteroidetes displayed its highest abundance at the S6 site (6.21%), followed by S7 (5.46%), S3 (1.92%), S4 (1.69%), S5 (0.77%), S1 (0.35%) and S2 (0.33%).
The dissimilarities in soil microbial community composition across different sites were further elucidated through a detailed analysis employing a heatmap of bacteria genera, showcasing the top 50 species in overall abundances. As illustrated in Fig. 3b, the relative abundances of these bacteria, including Lysobacter (Proteobacteria), Sphingomonas (Proteobacteria), Unclassified_Comamonadaceae (Proteobacteria), Nocardioides (Actinobacteria), Knoellia (Actinobacteria), Solirubrobacter (Actinobacteria), Terrabacter (Actinobacteria), Phycicoccus (Actinobacteria), Gaiella (Actinobacteria), Luteitalea (Acidobacteria), Flavisolibacter (Bacteroidetes), Gemmatirosa (Gemmatimonadetes), exhibited significantly higher abundances at the S6 site compared to other sites. The genus Bradyrhizobium, however, demonstrated similar relative abundances across all 7 sites, averaging 3.21%. Additionally, dominant bacterial abundances at the species level were presented in Fig. 3c. Sphingomonas mesophila and Sphingomonas edaphi, individually constituting 2.72% and 4.85% of the total bacterial community, manifested a manifold increase in abundance at the S6 site relative to other sites. Notably, there was a heightened abundance of Luteitalea_pratensis at the S6 site.
Metagenomic sequence taxonomic analysis revealed nine phyla, with Basidiomycota, Ascomycota and Mucoromycota constituting the most abundant, collectively averaging over 95% of all sequences in the fungi community (Fig. 3d). Ascomycota emerged as the most abundant phylum, with an average relative abundance exceeding 50% at the (S2, S4) sites and surpassing 60% at the S6 site, while its relative abundance at the S5 site was comparatively lower. The relative abundance of Basidiomycota at the (S1, S3 and S5) exceeded that at the other points, whereas Mucoromycota exhibited the highest relative abundance at the (S2, S3 and S7) sites. Chytridiomycota and Zoopagomycota were also present, with average relative abundances of 1.15% and 1.18%, respectively. The Heatmap of fungal genera with the top 50 species in overall abundances were presented in Fig. 3e. The genera of detected fungal species, showing greater richness, displayed distinct distribution characteristics at the 7 sites. It was observed that a relative lower abundant was noted for most all species at the S6 site compared to other points. The most representative fungal genus was Talaromyces (Ascomycota) and Aspergillus (Ascomycota), individually constituting 4.63% and 12.75% of the total fungal community. Furthermore, Fig. 3f delineates the distinct community composition at the species level for different collection sites. Notably, for the S6 site, the most representative species with greater abundance was Aspergillus_cristatus, which accounted for 8.16% of the total fungal community.
Nitrogen processing of soil microbial communities at different collection site
The functions annotated under KEGG level 1 for the 7 types of soil surrounding the electric power substation encompassed diverse categories: metabolism (ave. 51.49%), genetic information processing (ave. 14.53%), environmental information processing (ave. 13.25%), cellular processes (ave. 11.00%), human diseases (ave. 5.34%), and organic systems (ave. 4.40%) (Figure S2a and Table S3). Significantly enriched functional pathways at level 2 (> 5%) included carbohydrate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, energy metabolism, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, cellular
community-prokaryotes, signal transduction, and membrane transport (Figure S2b). Among these, the S6 site exhibited a higher proportion of amino acid metabolism, and a lower proportion of carbohydrate metabolism and cellular community-prokaryotes compared to all other sites (Table S4). Relatively more abundant functional pathways at level 3 (> 5%), such as two-component system, quorum sensing, ABC transporters, Oxidative phosphorylation, pyruvate metabolism, and ribosome, were presented in Figure S2c. No significant difference was observed among these points. Noteworthy were the nitrogen metabolism pathways, including nitrogen fixation, nitrification and denitrification. The relative abundance of the genes such as nifA, nifD, nifH, nifK, and nifV (Kuypers et al., 2018; Bellés-Sancho et al., 2021) was lower at the S6 site than at other sites (Fig. 4), suggesting a lower capacity for soil microbial nitrogen fixation (N2→NH3). In contrast, the relative abundance of two genes, amoA and amoB (Wang et al., 2022), was higher at the S6 site than at other sites, indicating increased nitrification (NH3→NO3−). This observation aligns with the finding of low NH4+-N and high NO3−-N at the S6 site (Table 1). The relative abundance of genes, encoding functions related to the production of NO2−, nitric oxide and nitrous oxide (Li et al., 2023), was also displayed in Fig. 4.
Correlation between soil microbial communities and environmental factors
Environmental factors exerted a substantial influence on microbial communities and their functions. RDA served as a valuable tool for expressing the correlation between environmental factors and microbial communities. As illustrated in Fig. 5a, the RDA1 and RDA 2 axis accounted for 46.05% and 33.74%, respectively, of the total variation in microbial community composition and soil properties at the phylum level. The RDA model, based on soil microbial phylum-level data, effectively differentiated soils from various collection sites, corroborating our NMDS results. Specifically, the S6 site, situated nearest to the electric power substation, exhibited discernible associations with NO3−-N, SOM, EC, pH and soil enzymes, including SOD, GSH, soil sucrase, LDH, acid phosphatase, acid protease, MDA, but was negatively correlated with moisture content and NH4+-N. However, the S1 and S2 sites were opposite. The S3 site followed the same trend as LFMMS, TOC, SOM, pH, EC, SOD, LDH, MDA, acid phosphatase and acid protease, while S4 and S5 sites had no strong significant correlation with these environmental factor. Cluster analysis revealed notable correlations between Acidobacteria and TOC, LFMMS, moisture content, SOD, NH4+-N. Actinobacteria was positively correlations with NH4+-N, NO3−-N, moisture content, GSH and soil sucrase. Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes demonstrated
positive correlations with pH, NO3−-N, SOM, EC, and the aforementioned soil enzymes. Chloroflexi and Candidatus_Dormibacteraeota exhibited positive correlations with NO3−-N, NH4+-N and moisture content. Other microorganisms, such as Actinobacteria and Candidatus_Eremiobacteraeota, Firmicutes and Cyanobacteria, displayed positive correlations with various environmental factors, including NO3−-N, NH4+-N, moisture content, GSH and soil sucrase. Armatimonadetes were positively correlated with NO3−-N, NH4+-N, moisture content, TOC and LFMMS, while Gemmatimonadetes demonstrated positive correlations with SOM, pH, EC and soil enzymes. Additionally, RDA of the correlation between environmental factors and microbial communities at the genus was provided in Figure S3.
Pearson’s correlation analyses were further conducted to elucidate the effects of the 15 environmental factors on the microbial communities at the genus level (see the phylum level in Figure S4), which exhibited distinct abundances at the S6 site compared to other sites. As depicted in Fig. 5b, among the 18 bacteria genera, there were 6 Actinobacteria genera, 3 Proteobacteria genera, and one unidentified Candidaus_Eremiobacteraeota genus that were significantly positively correlated with NO3−-N (ρ < 0.05), while there were 3 unidentified Actinobacteria genera and one unidentified Candidaus_Eremiobacteraeota genus that were significantly positively correlated with NH4+-N (ρ < 0.05). Notably, bacteria that were significantly negatively correlated with moisture content included five Actinobacteria genera, four Proteobacteria genera, two unidentified Gemmatimonadetes genera, one Acidobacteria genus, one unidentified Candidaus_Eremiobacteraeota genus and one bacteroidetes genus. Bacteria that were significantly positively related to pH included three Proteobacteria genera, two Actinobacteria genera, two unidentified Gemmatimonadetes genera, one bacteroidetes genus, while three unidentified Actinobacteria genera and one unidentified Candidaus_Eremiobacteraeota genus were opposite. Five Actinobacteria genera, one bacteroidetes genus, two Proteobacteria genera and one Gemmatimonadetes genus (Gemmatirosa) exhibited negative correlation with TOC (ρ < 0.05). The only significantly negative correlation with LFMS (ρ < 0.05) was Actinobacteria genus (phycicoccus). Most of bacteria presented in Fig. 5b was positively correlated with EC and only Acidobacteria genus (Luteitalea) showed significance (ρ < 0.05). For the soil fungi (Fig. 5c), those with a positive correlation with NH4+-N and moisture content included three Ascomycota genera, two Mucoromycota (Bifiguratus and Linnemannia), one Basidiomycota genus (Amanita), one Eumycota genus (Absidia), one Zygomycota genus (Mucor), while those with a negative correlation with NO3−-N included one Ascomycota genus (Fusarium) and one Eumycota genus (Absidia). However, no significant correlation was observed for TOC.