Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Abstract

Ammonia oxidation is an important part of the global nitrogen cycle. Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammoniaoxidizing bacteria (AOB) are important players in the ammonia oxidation process. In this study, 13 sediment samples from the Liaohe estuary were collected. The abundances of 16S rRNA and amoA genes were detected by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR. The diversity and community structure of AOA and AOB were investigated by constructing clone libraries. Quantitative PCR results showed that the 16S rRNA gene abundances of archaea and bacteria were 1.05??108 ~1.31??109 and 3.05??1010~1.37??1012 copies/g wet sediment, respectively. The AOA and AOB amoA gene abundances ranged from 3.10??106~2.85??107 and 6.59??105 to 1.20 ??107copies/g wet deposit, respectively. At all sites, AOA abundance was greater than AOB. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the AOA amoA sequences were mainly Nitrosophaera and Nitrosopumilus, and the AOB amoA sequences were mainly located in estuarine sediments and wetland soils. In addition, canonical correspondence analysis showed that the environmental factors affecting AOA community distribution were salinity, pH, ammonia (NH4 +), conductivity, total phosphorus, sand, and silt content, while the sand and silt content had a significant effect on AOB community structure.

Biography

E-mail: hxming@nmemc.org.cn