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Prevalence of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria over ammonia-oxidizing archaea in sediments as related to nutrient loading in Chinese aquaculture ponds

  • ISEB 2015: Biogeochemical Dynamics of Sediment-Water Systems: Processes and Modelling
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Nitrogen (N) application in excess of assimilatory capacity for aquaculture ponds can lead to water-quality deterioration through ammonia accumulation with toxicity to fish. Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) potentially process extra ammonium, so their abundance and diversity are of great ecological significance. This study aimed to reveal variations in communities of AOA and AOB as affected by aquaculture activities.

Materials and methods

From June to September 2012, water and sediments were sampled monthly in three ponds feeding Mandarin fish in a suburb of Wuhan City, China. Molecular methods based on ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) gene were used to determine abundance and diversity of AOA and AOB in the sediments.

Results and discussion

The pond with the highest fish stock had the highest nutrient loadings in terms of different forms of N and carbon (C) in both sediment and water. The abundance and diversity of AOB were significantly higher than those of AOA in the sediment. The AOB abundance showed a significantly positive relationship to concentration of soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) in interstitial water, and both abundance and diversity of AOA were significantly negative to concentration of ammonium in interstitial water. Furthermore, AOA species affiliated to Nitrososphaera-like and Nitrosophaera Cluster was distinguishable from those observed in other aquaculture environments.

Conclusions

Nutrients in sediment were enriched by intensive aquaculture activity, among which organic N and C, together with ammonium and SRP, shaped the communities of ammonia oxidizers, with AOB dominating over AOA in terms of abundance and diversity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41230748), the National Science and Technology Supporting Program of China (2012BAD25B05), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41073066), and the State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology (2011FBZ15). We thank the team lead by Dr. Tanglin Zhang for skilled sampling assistance and other matters.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.7 Donghu South Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Zijun Zhou, Chunlei Song, Xiuyun Cao & Yiyong Zhou

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, People’s Republic of China

    Zijun Zhou

  3. College of Biological and A&F Engineering, Tongren University, Tongren, Guizhou, 554300, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Li

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  1. Zijun Zhou
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  2. Hui Li
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  5. Yiyong Zhou
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Correspondence to Yiyong Zhou.

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Responsible editor: Nives Ogrinc

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Zhou, Z., Li, H., Song, C. et al. Prevalence of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria over ammonia-oxidizing archaea in sediments as related to nutrient loading in Chinese aquaculture ponds. J Soils Sediments 17, 1928–1938 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-017-1651-2

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