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Impact of Land Use Management and Soil Properties on Denitrifier Communities of Namibian Savannas

  • Soil Microbiology
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Abstract

We studied potential denitrification activity and the underlying denitrifier communities in soils from a semiarid savanna ecosystem of the Kavango region in NE Namibia to help in predicting future changes in N2O emissions due to continuing changes of land use in this region. Soil type and land use (pristine, fallow, and cultivated soils) influenced physicochemical characteristics of the soils that are relevant to denitrification activity and N2O fluxes from soils and affected potential denitrification activity. Potential denitrification activity was assessed by using the denitrifier enzyme activity (DEA) assay as a proxy for denitrification activity in the soil. Soil type and land use influenced C and N contents of the soils. Pristine soils that had never been cultivated had a particularly high C content. Cultivation reduced soil C content and the abundance of denitrifiers and changed the composition of the denitrifier communities. DEA was strongly and positively correlated with soil C content and was higher in pristine than in fallow or recently cultivated soils. Soil type and the composition of both the nirK- and nirS-type denitrifier communities also influenced DEA. In contrast, other soil characteristics like N content, C:N ratio, and pH did not predict DEA. These findings suggest that due to greater availability of soil organic matter, and hence a more effective N cycling, the natural semiarid grasslands emit more N2O than managed lands in Namibia.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the BIOTA South program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Project 01LC0621E/TP3) and the Max Planck Society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany

    Gesche Braker, Michael Hannig, Franziska Barbara Brandt & Kristof Brenzinger

  2. Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

    Gesche Braker

  3. Philipps University, Marburg, Germany

    Diethart Matthies

  4. LGC Genomics, Berlin, Germany

    Michael Hannig

  5. Institute of Soil Science, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Alexander Gröngröft

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  1. Gesche Braker
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  2. Diethart Matthies
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Correspondence to Gesche Braker.

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Braker, G., Matthies, D., Hannig, M. et al. Impact of Land Use Management and Soil Properties on Denitrifier Communities of Namibian Savannas. Microb Ecol 70, 981–992 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-015-0623-6

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