Diversity and community structure of ammonia oxidizers in a marsh wetland of the northeast China

Abstract

As an interface of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, wetland is a hotspot of the global nitrogen cycle. Ammonia oxidation is an essential part of the nitrogen cycle and is conducted by ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Based on the amoA gene, the distribution and genetic diversity of AOA and AOB in the marsh wetland soil with different soil layers and vegetation had been investigated. The result showed that both soil layer and vegetation significantly influenced the diversity and abundance of AOA and AOB. AOB dominated numerically in all soil samples. The average bacterial amoA gene copies (2.62 × 10 copies/g dry soil) was 100-fold higher than the average archaeal amoA gene copies. In the soil sample under the Phragmites australis, the highest archaeal amoA gene was in depth 20-40 cm, whereas the bacterial amoA gene was more abundant in depth 0-20 cm. For the soil under Calamagrostis angustifolia, the highest archaeal and bacterial amoA gene were both detected in depth 0-20 cm. The dominated AOA was cluster AII, which was most related to the amoA gene found in aquatic habitat. Cluster BI accounted for 59.1% of bacterial amoA gene and it was related to the amoA gene found in the terrestrial habitat. CCA analysis revealed that NO was the main factor for AOA and AOB community structure in the P. australis soil. However, NO and NH were important factors for AOA and AOB in the soil under C. angustifolia.

Fertilization altered co-occurrence patterns and microbial assembly process of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms

“…In our study, long-term fertilization with inorganic fertilizers reduced the growth of AOA but increased the growth of AOB in black soil compared to that with organic fertilizers. This results was similar to the obvious research, which indicated that showed that chemical fertilizers can decrease the diversity of the AOA community 2 , 37 . Organic fertilizer provides a variety of inorganic and organic nutrients, such as organic acids, for crops while fertilizing the soil, maintaining soil pH and improving the soil structure and ecosystem 38 , 39 .…”

Effects of applying inorganic fertilizer and organic manure for 35 years on the structure and diversity of ammonia‐oxidizing archaea communities in a Chinese Mollisols field

“…In ocean, lake, and soil environments, the amoA gene copy numbers from AOA are tens or even thousands of times greater than those from AOB (Li, Weng, Huang, Su, & Yang, 2015). Studies have shown that AOA prefer areas with low ammonium concentrations, whereas AOB prefer areas with high ammonium concentrations (Gao, Liu, Li, Chen, & Liang, 2018a;Ouyang, Norton, & Stark, 2017).…”

“…In ocean, lake, and soil environments, the amoA gene copy numbers from AOA are tens or even thousands of times greater than those from AOB (Li, Weng, Huang, Su, & Yang, ). Studies have shown that AOA prefer areas with low ammonium concentrations, whereas AOB prefer areas with high ammonium concentrations (Gao, Liu, Li, Chen, & Liang, ; Ouyang, Norton, & Stark, ). When AOA and AOB coexist in most agricultural soils, they differ in terms of their responses to environmental disturbances (i.e., niche specialization) and resource utilization (i.e., niche differentiation) (Gao, Chang, et al, ; Ouyang, Norton, Stark, Reeve, & Habteselassie, ).…”