Morphological and molecular diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in revegetated iron-mining site has the same magnitude of adjacent pristine ecosystems Caroline Krug Vieira 1 , Matheus Nicoletti Marascalchi 2 , Arthur Vinicius Rodrigues 3 , Rafael Dutra de Armas 4 , Sidney Luiz Stürmer 2, ⁎ 1. Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB), Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Ambiental, 89030-903 Blumenau, SC, Brazil 2. Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB), Departamento de Ciências Naturais (DCN), 89030-903 Blumenau, SC, Brazil 3. Universidade Regional de Blumenau (FURB), Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Florestal, 89030-903 Blumenau, SC, Brazil 4. Centro Universitário – Católica de Santa Catarina, 89203-005 Joinville, SC, Brazil ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 8 May 2017 Revised 11 July 2017 Accepted 25 August 2017 Available online 8 September 2017 Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are important during revegetation of mining sites, but few studies compared AMF community in revegetated sites with pristine adjacent ecosystems. The aim of this study was to assess AMF species richness in a revegetated iron-mining site and adjacent ecosystems and to relate AMF occurrence to soil chemical parameters. Soil samples were collected in dry and rainy seasons in a revegetated iron-mining site (RA) and compared with pristine ecosystems of forest (FL), canga (NG), and Cerrado (CE). AMF species were identified by spore morphology from field and trap cultures and by LSU rDNA sequencing using Illumina. A total of 62 AMF species were recovered, pertaining to 18 genera and nine families of Glomeromycota. The largest number of species and families were detected in RA, and Acaulospora mellea and Glomus sp1 were the most frequent species. Species belonging to Glomeraceae and Acaulosporaceae accounted for 42%–48% of total species richness. Total number of spores and mycorrhizal inoculum potential tended to be higher in the dry than in the rainy season, except in RA. Sequences of uncultured Glomerales were dominant in all sites and seasons and five species were detected exclusively by DNA-based identification. Redundancy analysis evidenced soil pH, organic matter, aluminum, and iron as main factors influencing AMF presence. In conclusion, revegetation of the iron-mining site seems to be effective in maintaining a diverse AMF community and different approaches are complementary to reveal AMF species, despite the larger number of species being identified by traditional identification of field spores. © 2017 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. Keywords: Community structure Glomeromycota Illumina LSU rDNA Spore morphology Taxonomic distinctness index Introduction Iron (Fe) is one of the most common metal used in industry and found in granite and basalt rocks. Open air iron mining is an extremely impacting activity and drastically transforms the landscape, as iron ore deposits are accessed after stripping ironstone outcrops and biota followed by excavation that can reach up to 300 m in depth (Skirycz et al., 2014). This process JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES 67 (2018) 330 – 343 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail: sidneysturmer@gmail.com, sturmer@furb.br (Sidney Luiz Stürmer). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2017.08.019 1001-0742/© 2017 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect www.elsevier.com/locate/jes