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Abundance and community structure of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in reservoir sediment and adjacent soils

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Ammonia oxidation is an important process for global nitrogen cycling. Both ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) can be the important players in nitrification process. However, their relative contribution to nitrification remains controversial. This study investigated the abundance and community structure of AOA and AOB in sediment of Miyun Reservoir and adjacent soils. Quantitative PCR assays indicated that the highest AOA abundance occurred in unplanted riparian soil, followed by reservoir sediment, reed-planted riparian soil and agricultural soil. The AOB community size in agricultural soil was much larger than that in the other habitats. Large variations in the structures of AOA and AOB were also observed among the different habitats. The abundance of Nitrosospira-like AOB species were detected in the agricultural soil and reservoir sediment. Pearson’s correlation analysis showed the AOB diversity had positive significant correlations with pH and total nitrogen, while the AOA diversity might be negatively affected by nitrate nitrogen and ammonia nitrogen. This work could add new insights towards nitrification in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40971258, 41271495) and Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20121108110006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources, Environment & Tourism, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100048, China

    Xiaoyan Wang, Cui Wang & Linlin Bao

  2. College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, The Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences (Ministry of Education), Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Shuguang Xie

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  1. Xiaoyan Wang
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  2. Cui Wang
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Correspondence to Shuguang Xie.

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Wang, X., Wang, C., Bao, L. et al. Abundance and community structure of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in reservoir sediment and adjacent soils. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 1883–1892 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5174-5

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