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Coal and lignite play a major energy supply role in many European countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina. Yet mining activities are a heavy source of ecosystem contamination, posing significant environmental threats. The primary goal of this study was to isolate and identify autochthonous lignite mine spoil bacteria and evaluate their potential in bioremediation of these polluted soils. Two Bacillus species, Bacillus simplex and a Bacillus cereus group member, were identified using conventional, molecular, and bioinformatics approaches. This represents, to our knowledge, the first microbial characterization of mine overburden in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A co-inoculum of autochthonous bacterial populations was used to treat unvegetated as well as oat- and lettuce-vegetated lignite overburden samples. Our results illustrate the potential of recovered native species to enrich soil fertility and productivity through plant growth promotion.

This paper presents the influence of heavy metals on the process of seed germination and the survival rate of Picea abies L. Karst spruce seedlings. The experiments were conducted in laboratory conditions by adding solutions of compounds of zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium at three different concentrations (3 ppm, 33 ppm, and 100 ppm) to the media. The observed heavy metals affected the germination of the spruce seeds in different ways. Although the seed was tolerant to the presence of all metals, the percentage of germinated seeds depended on the type of metal and its concentration. The lower concentrations of the heavy metals (3 and 33 ppm) partially inhibited seed germination, and the highest concentrations (100 ppm) of all metals caused total inhibition. The P. abies L. Karst seedlings were very tolerant to the presence of all metals. The highest concentrations of cadmium and copper had a significant influence on the decrease of the number of the seedlings that survived, as well as on the decrease of biomass in comparison with lead. Zinc had the least adverse effect on the growth and survival of seedlings.