Use of the BIOLOG system to species identify microorganisms from mined-out sites

Abstract

Poproč post-mining area in Slovakia is an old environmental burden which has been contaminated by toxic metals and semi-metals, predominantly arsenic and antimony, in connection with the extraction of antimony ores. Nowadays, revitalization work is undergoing in the closed mine with three adjacent sludge lagoons. The outcomes deal with anthropogenic manifestations of mining in-situ and their influences on microbes. Using the BIOLOG test system we identified representatives of indigenous microbes, whose adaptation to high levels of toxic metals and semi-metals are one of the main bioindicators of the state of the post-mining environment and a basic indicator of the evolution of effects on organisms of a higher ecological level. The analyses of microbial diversity in Poproč found the strain of Firmicutes to be the most abundant, with the highest diversity in the genus Bacillus. Based on the biochemical tests, the Bacillus genus was confirmed to be highly adaptable to the change in biogeochemical conditions in metal-contaminated substrates. The variable parameters of the identified representatives of the Bacillus genus correspond to its high diversity, which has been confirmed by a set of oxidative and assimilation tests.