The environmental changes caused by coal mining activities caused disturbances to the plant, soil, and microbial health in the mining area. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play an important role in the ecological restoration of mining areas. However, it is less understood how soil fungal communities with multiple functional groups respond to coal mining, and the quantitative impact and risk of mining disturbance. Therefore, in this study, the effect of coal mining on soil microorganisms' composition and diversity were analyzed near the edge of an opencast coal-mine dump in the Shengli mining area, Xilingol League, Inner Mongolia. The response strategy of soil fungi to coal mining and the stability of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the soil fungal community were determined. Our results showed that coal mining affected AMF and soil fungi in areas within 900 m from the coal mine. The abundance of endophytes increased with the distance between sampling sites and the mine dump, whereas the abundance of saprotroph decreased with the distance between sampling sites and the mine dump. Saprotroph was the dominant functional flora near the mining area. The nodes percentage of Septoglomus and Claroideoglomus and AMF phylogenetic diversity near the mining area were highest. AMF responded to the mining disturbance via the variety and evolution strategy of flora. Furthermore, AMF and soil fungal communities were significantly correlated with edaphic properties and parameters. Soil available phosphorus (AP) was the main influencer of soil AMF and fungal communities. These findings evaluated the risk range of coal mining on AMF and soil fungal communities and elucidated the microbial response strategy to mining disturbance.
Keywords: arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; edaphic variables; microecological health; mining disturbance; response strategy; soil fungi.