Abstract:Objective To explore the effects of plant diversity and soil improvement on the soil microbial community in abandoned lead-zinc mine wasteland.Methods A pot experiment was conducted with nine commonly used plants for ecological restoration in mining areas. Different plant diversity levels (S1 to S5) were set up, and for each level, a control group (Y: without soil amendment) and an improvement group (G: with organic fertilizer and polyacrylamide) were established.Results The plant height of the improvement group was generally higher than that of the control group. After soil improvement, the content of available nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium all significantly increased, while that of heavy metals Cd and Pb decreased the most when the species richness was 9 (S5), dropping by 37.20% and 14.85% respectively. The diversity of soil microorganisms increased with the increase in plant diversity. The application of soil amendments reduced the richness and diversity of the fungal community, while enhancing the richness and diversity of the bacterial community. In the improvement group, the soil fungal abundance reached the highest level when GS4 configuration was adopted, with the Observed index and Chao1 index being 110.50 and 169.23, respectively. The soil bacterial abundance reached the highest level when GS2 was adopted, with the Observed index and Chao1 index being 1 081.59 and 1 116.79, respectively. In the fungal community, the abundance of ascomycetes at both the phylum and genus levels increased to varying degrees in the improvement group compared with the control group, and the abundance of Ascomycota increased with the increase in plant diversity. Soil improvement reduced the abundance of Mucoromycota and Rhizopus, but increased the abundance of Sordaria. Moreover, the abundance of Mucoromycota and Rhizopus decreased with the increase in plant diversity. In the bacterial community, soil improvement increased the abundance of Sphingomonas and Gemmatimonas.Conclusion Soil microbial diversity increases as the plant diversity increases. The application of soil amendments reduces the richness and diversity of soil fungi and improves the richness and diversity of soil bacteria. As the plant diversity increases, the abundance of Ascomycota increases, while that of Mucoromycota and Rhizopus decreases.