Abstract
With human activities like exploration, geological investigation and tourism, the structure and function of karst cave microbial communities are prone to change. In this study, sediments from seven different spots in the Dushan Tian Cave in Guizhou Province, China were collected. And the structure and potential key metabolic functions of the microbial community were analyzed through metagenomics. The results showed that the structure of the microbial communities was associated with human-impacted environmental factors. Total phosphorus and Sulfide might promote the growth of Gemmatimonadetes_bacterium. However, Sulfide and organic matter might inhibit the growth of Gemmatimonadetes, Gemmatimonadetes_bacterium, Acidobacteria and Candidatus_Rokubacteria. Human activities triggered ecological effects. In terms of the abundance, denitrification genes increased but ammonia oxidation genes decreased in nitrogen metabolism, suggested there was an increasing trend in the potential of denitrification function. The sulfur metabolic potentials mainly involved assimilatory sulfate reduction where sulfates might be accumulated. The potential of carbon metabolism showed a trend towards the decomposition of exogenous carbon. The methane potential had changed. This study revealed the impact of human activities on cave microorganisms and clarified the response mechanism of cave microorganisms under human interference. It provided an important reference for the ecological protection and development and utilization of karst caves.
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Authors can provide data upon request. Generated during the current research and the analysis of the data set is available in NCBI website (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) (SRA) found in the repository, landing number is [PRJNA1307558], the web link is [https://dataview.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/object/PRJNA1307558?reviewer=r9avb35ddks3hq9gfq8iq9ld7h]. We ensure that all data in the manuscript is released on the specified date (September 17, 2025) and that all web links and accesses allow access to public data.
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52560012), the Science and Technology Plan Project of Guiyang City (No. [2024]2–38) and Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Plan Project (Qiankehe Chengguo [2025] Zhongda 103).
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Meiqi Zhang: Conceptualization (lead), Data curation (supporting), Formal analysis (lead), Investigation (equal), Validation (lead), Visualization (lead), Writing - original draft (lead).Kun Luo: Conceptualization (equal), Funding acquisition (lead), Project administration (equal), Resources (supporting), Supervision (supporting), Writing-review & editing (supporting).Dehua Liu: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (lead), Formal analysis (equal), Investigation (lead), Methodology (supporting), Validation (supporting).Yancheng Li: Conceptualization (supporting), Funding acquisition (lead), Investigation (supporting), Project administration (lead), Resources (supporting), Supervision (lead), Writing-review & editing (lead).Qian Liu: Conceptualization (equal), Data curation (supporting), Investigation (supporting), Methodology (lead), Validation (supporting), Visualization (supporting).Jiang Li：Conceptualization (supporting), Funding acquisition (supporting), Resources (lead), Project administration (supporting), Supervision (supporting), Validation (equal), Writing-review & editing (supporting).
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Zhang, M., Luo, K., Liu, D. et al. The influence of human activities on the microbial community structure and function of a karst cave in southwest China. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46434-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46434-9
