Dataset Information

Contrasting denitrifier communities relate to contrasting N2O emission patterns from acidic peat soils in arctic tundra.

ABSTRACT: Cryoturbated peat circles (that is, bare surface soil mixed by frost action; pH 3-4) in the Russian discontinuous permafrost tundra are nitrate-rich 'hotspots' of nitrous oxide (N(2)O) emissions in arctic ecosystems, whereas adjacent unturbated peat areas are not. N(2)O was produced and subsequently consumed at pH 4 in unsupplemented anoxic microcosms with cryoturbated but not in those with unturbated peat soil. Nitrate, nitrite and acetylene stimulated net N(2)O production of both soils in anoxic microcosms, indicating denitrification as the source of N(2)O. Up to 500 and 10??M nitrate stimulated denitrification in cryoturbated and unturbated peat soils, respectively. Apparent maximal reaction velocities of nitrite-dependent denitrification were 28 and 18?nmol N(2)O?g(DW)(-1)?h(-1), for cryoturbated and unturbated peat soils, respectively. Barcoded amplicon pyrosequencing of narG, nirK/nirS and nosZ (encoding nitrate, nitrite and N(2)O reductases, respectively) yielded ?49?000 quality-filtered sequences with an average sequence length of 444?bp. Up to 19 species-level operational taxonomic units were detected per soil and gene, many of which were distantly related to cultured denitrifiers or environmental sequences. Denitrification-associated gene diversity in cryoturbated and in unturbated peat soils differed. Quantitative PCR (inhibition-corrected per DNA extract) revealed higher copy numbers of narG in cryoturbated than in unturbated peat soil. Copy numbers of nirS were up to 1000 × higher than those of nirK in both soils, and nirS nirK(-1) copy number ratios in cryoturbated and unturbated peat soils differed. The collective data indicate that the contrasting N(2)O emission patterns of cryoturbated and unturbated peat soils are associated with contrasting denitrifier communities.

SUBMITTER: Palmer K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3329112 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Contrasting denitrifier communities relate to contrasting N2O emission patterns from acidic peat soils in arctic tundra.

Palmer Katharina K Biasi Christina C Horn Marcus A MA

The ISME journal 20111201 5

Cryoturbated peat circles (that is, bare surface soil mixed by frost action; pH 3-4) in the Russian discontinuous permafrost tundra are nitrate-rich 'hotspots' of nitrous oxide (N(2)O) emissions in arctic ecosystems, whereas adjacent unturbated peat areas are not. N(2)O was produced and subsequently consumed at pH 4 in unsupplemented anoxic microcosms with cryoturbated but not in those with unturbated peat soil. Nitrate, nitrite and acetylene stimulated net N(2)O production of both soils in anox ...[more]

PMID: 22134649

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Project description:Cryoturbated peat circles (pH 4) in the Eastern European Tundra harbor up to 2 mM pore water nitrate and emit the greenhouse gas N2O like heavily fertilized agricultural soils in temperate regions. The main process yielding N2O under oxygen limited conditions is denitrification, which is the sequential reduction of nitrate/nitrite to N2O and/or N2. N2O reduction to N2 is impaired by pH < 6 in classical model denitrifiers and many environments. Key microbes of peat circles are important but largely unknown catalysts for C- and N-cycling associated N2O fluxes. Thus, we hypothesized that the peat circle community includes hitherto unknown taxa and is essentially unable to efficiently perform complete denitrification, i.e., reduce N2O, due to a low in situ pH. 16S rRNA analysis indicated a diverse active community primarily composed of the bacterial class-level taxa Alphaproteobacteria, Acidimicrobiia, Acidobacteria, Verrucomicrobiae, and Bacteroidia, as well as archaeal Nitrososphaeria. Euryarchaeota were not detected. 13C2- and 12C2-acetate supplemented anoxic microcosms with endogenous nitrate and acetylene at an in situ near pH of 4 were used to assess acetate dependent carbon flow, denitrification and N2O production. Initial nitrate and acetate were consumed within 6 and 11 days, respectively, and primarily converted to CO2 and N2, suggesting complete acetate fueled denitrification at acidic pH. Stable isotope probing coupled to 16S rRNA analysis via Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing identified acetate consuming key players of the family Burkholderiaceae during complete denitrification correlating with Rhodanobacter spp. The archaeal community consisted primarily of ammonia-oxidizing Archaea of Nitrososphaeraceae, and was stable during the incubation. The collective data indicate that peat circles (i) host acid-tolerant denitrifiers capable of complete denitrification at pH 4-5.5, (ii) other parameters like carbon availability rather than pH are possible reasons for high N2O emissions in situ, and (iii) Burkholderiaceae are responsive key acetate assimilators co-occurring with Rhodanobacter sp. during denitrification, suggesting both organisms being associated with acid-tolerant denitrification in peat circles.

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Dataset Information

Contrasting denitrifier communities relate to contrasting N2O emission patterns from acidic peat soils in arctic tundra.

Publications

Contrasting denitrifier communities relate to contrasting N2O emission patterns from acidic peat soils in arctic tundra.

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