Soil Yeast Communities in Revegetated Post-Mining and Adjacent Native Areas in Central Brazil

Abstract

Yeasts represent an important component of the soil microbiome. In central Brazil, mining activities are among the main anthropogenic factors that influence the dynamics of the soil microbiota. Few studies have been dedicated to analysis of tropical soil yeast communities, and even fewer have focused on Brazilian hotspots influenced by mining activity. The aim of the current study was to describe soil yeast communities in a post-mining site with revegetated and native areas, along Neotropical Savanna and Atlantic Forest biomes. Yeast communities were described using a culture-based method and estimator-based species accumulation curves, and their associations with environmental characteristics were assessed using multivariate analysis. The results indicate a greater species richness for yeast communities in the revegetated area. We identified 37 species describing 86% of the estimated richness according to Chao2. Ascomycetous yeasts dominated over basidiomycetous species. Candida maltosa was the most frequent species in two phytocenoses. Red-pigmented yeasts were frequent only in the summer. The main soil attributes affecting yeast communities were texture and micronutrients. In conclusion, each phytocenosis showed a particular assemblage of species as a result of local environmental phenomena. The species richness in a Revegetated area points to a possible ecological role of yeast species in environmental recovery. This study provided the first comprehensive inventory of soil yeasts in major phytocenoses in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Keywords

• Ascomycetous yeasts
• <i>Candida</i> species
• phytocenoses
• iron-mining
• seasonality
• soil ecology