Metagenomic monitoring of soil bacterial community after the construction of a crude oil flowline

This study aimed to assess the metagenomic changes of soil bacterial community after constructing a crude oil flowline in Basilicata region, Italy. Soils identified a total of 56 taxa at the phylum level and 485 at the family level, with a different taxa distribution, especially in samples collected on 2014. Since microbiological diversity occurred in the soils collected after 2013 (the reference year), we performed a differential abundance analysis using DESeq2 by GAIA pipeline. In the forest area, 14 phyla and 126 families were differentially abundant (− 6.06 < logFC > 7.88) in 2014 compared to 2013. Nine families were differentially abundant in 2015, with logFC between − 3.16 and 4.66, while 20 families were significantly more abundant and 16 less abundant in 2016, with logFC between − 6.48 and 6.45. In the cultivated area, 33 phyla and 260 families showed differential abundance in 2014. In the next year (2015), 14 phyla were significantly more abundant and 19 less abundant, while 29 families were substantially more abundant and 139 less abundant, with fold changes ranging between − 5.67 and 4.01. In 2016, 33 phyla showed a significantly different abundance, as 14 were more abundant and 19 decreased, and 81 families showed a significantly increased amount with logFC between − 5.31 and 5.38. These results hypothesise that the analysed site is an altered soil where the development of particular bacterial groups attends to bioremediation processes, naturally occurring to restore optimal conditions. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10661-021-09637-3.