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Temporal changes in abundance and composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial and archaeal communities in a drained peat soil in relation to N2O emissions

  • SOILS, SEC 5 • SOIL AND LANDSCAPE ECOLOGY • RESEARCH ARTICLE
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Abstract

Purpose

Boreal peat soils comprise about 3% of the terrestrial environments, and when drained, they become sources of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Ammonia oxidation can result in N2O emissions, either directly or by fuelling denitrification, but we know little about the ecology of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) in peat soils. Our aim was to determine temporal alterations in abundance and composition of these communities in a drained and forested peat soil in relation to N2O emissions and ammonia oxidation activity.

Materials and methods

The peat was sampled at three different depths in the upper 0.5 m over a period of 9 months covering two summer and two winter samplings. Community composition and abundance were determined by T-RFLP and quantitative real-time PCR of the bacterial and archaeal amoA genes. Potential ammonia oxidation rates were measured using the chlorate inhibition technique, and in situ N2O emission was determined using chambers.

Results and discussion

The soil parameters displayed little spatial and temporal heterogeneity, which probably explained why there were no depth-related effects on the abundance, composition, or activity of the ammonia oxidizers. In contrast to most terrestrial environments, the AOB dominated numerically over the AOA. Both groups changed in community composition between sampling occasions, although the AOB showed more significant seasonal signatures than the AOA. Temporal changes in abundance were only observed for the AOB, with a decrease in numbers from May to March. Such differences were not reflected by the activity or N2O emissions.

Conclusions

The high ammonium concentrations in the peat soil likely favored the AOB over the AOA, and we hypothesize that they were more active than the AOA and therefore responded to climatic and environmental changes. However, other processes rather than ammonia oxidation were likely responsible for N2O emissions at the site.

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Acknowledgments

We thank C. Jones for statistical help. The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, The Swedish Research Council Formas financing the Uppsala Microbiomics Center, and the METHECO project (European Science Foundation) provided funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, P.O. Box 7025, 750 07, Uppsala, Sweden

    Janet Andert, Ella Wessén & Sara Hallin

  2. Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany

    Janet Andert

  3. Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

    Gunnar Börjesson

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  1. Janet Andert
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  2. Ella Wessén
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Correspondence to Sara Hallin.

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Responsible editor: Ji-Zheng He

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Andert, J., Wessén, E., Börjesson, G. et al. Temporal changes in abundance and composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacterial and archaeal communities in a drained peat soil in relation to N2O emissions. J Soils Sediments 11, 1399–1407 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-011-0413-9

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