Dataset Information

Drying-Rewetting and Flooding Impact Denitrifier Activity Rather than Community Structure in a Moderately Acidic Fen.

ABSTRACT: Wetlands represent sources or sinks of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). The acidic fen Schlöppnerbrunnen emits denitrification derived N2O and is also capable of N2O consumption. Global warming is predicted to cause more extreme weather events in future years, including prolonged drought periods as well as heavy rainfall events, which may result in flooding. Thus, the effects of prolonged drought and flooding events on the abundance, community composition, and activity of fen denitrifiers were investigated in manipulation experiments. The water table in the fen was experimentally lowered for 8 weeks in 2008 and raised for 5.5 months in 2009 on three treatment plots, while three plots were left untreated and served as controls. In situ N2O fluxes were rather unaffected by the drought treatment and were marginally increased by the flooding treatment. Samples were taken before and after treatment in both years. The structural gene markers narG and nosZ were used to assess possible changes in the nitrate reducer and denitrifier community in response to water table manipulations. Detected copy numbers of narG and nosZ were essentially unaffected by the experimental drought and flooding. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (TRFLP) patterns of narG and nosZ were similar before and after experimental drought or experimental flooding, indicating a stable nitrate reducer and denitrifier community in the fen. However, certain TRFs of narG and nosZ transcripts responded to experimental drought or flooding. Nitrate-dependent Michaelis-Menten kinetics were assessed in anoxic microcosms with peat samples taken before and 6 months after the onset of experimental flooding. Maximal reaction velocities v max were higher after than before flooding in samples from treament but not in those from control plots taken at the same time. The ratio of N2O to N2O + N2 was lower in soil from treatment plots after flooding than in soil from control plots, suggesting mitigation of N2O emissions by increased N2O-reduction rates after flooding. N2O was consumed to subatmospheric levels in all microcosms after flooding. The collective data indicate that water table manipulations had only minor effects on in situ N2O fluxes, denitrifier abundance, and denitrifier community composition of the acidic fen, while active subpopulations of denitrifiers changed in response to water table manipulations, suggesting functionally redundant subpopulations occupying distinct ecological niches in the fen.

SUBMITTER: Palmer K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4887476 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Drying-Rewetting and Flooding Impact Denitrifier Activity Rather than Community Structure in a Moderately Acidic Fen.

Palmer Katharina K Köpp Julia J Gebauer Gerhard G Horn Marcus A MA

Frontiers in microbiology 20160601

Wetlands represent sources or sinks of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O). The acidic fen Schlöppnerbrunnen emits denitrification derived N2O and is also capable of N2O consumption. Global warming is predicted to cause more extreme weather events in future years, including prolonged drought periods as well as heavy rainfall events, which may result in flooding. Thus, the effects of prolonged drought and flooding events on the abundance, community composition, and activity of fen denitrifiers ...[more]

PMID: 27313566

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Project description:Peatlands cover more than 30% of the Finnish land area and impact N2O fluxes. Denitrifiers release N2O as an intermediate or end product. In situ N2O emissions of a near pH neutral pristine fen soil in Finnish Lapland were marginal during gas chamber measurements. However, nitrate and ammonium fertilization significantly stimulated in situ N2O emissions. Stimulation with nitrate was stronger than with ammonium. N2O was produced and subsequently consumed in gas chambers. In unsupplemented anoxic microcosms, fen soil produced N2O only when acetylene was added to block nitrous oxide reductase, suggesting complete denitrification. Nitrate and nitrite stimulated denitrification in fen soil, and maximal reaction velocities (vmax) of nitrate or nitrite dependent denitrification where 18 and 52 nmol N2O h-1 gDW-1, respectively. N2O was below 30% of total produced N gases in fen soil when concentrations of nitrate and nitrite were <500 μM. vmax for N2O consumption was up to 36 nmol N2O h-1 gDW-1. Denitrifier diversity was assessed by analyses of narG, nirK/nirS, and nosZ (encoding nitrate-, nitrite-, and nitrous oxide reductases, respectively) by barcoded amplicon pyrosequencing. Analyses of ~14,000 quality filtered sequences indicated up to 25 species-level operational taxonomic units (OTUs), and up to 359 OTUs at 97% sequence similarity, suggesting diverse denitrifiers. Phylogenetic analyses revealed clusters distantly related to publicly available sequences, suggesting hitherto unknown denitrifiers. Representatives of species-level OTUs were affiliated with sequences of unknown soil bacteria and Actinobacterial, Alpha-, Beta-, Gamma-, and Delta-Proteobacterial sequences. Comparison of the 4 gene markers at 97% similarity indicated a higher diversity of narG than for the other gene markers based on Shannon indices and observed number of OTUs. The collective data indicate (i) a high denitrification and N2O consumption potential, and (ii) a highly diverse, nitrate limited denitrifier community associated with potential N2O fluxes in a pH-neutral fen soil.

Project description:Forest soil ecosystems are associated with large pools and fluxes of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), which could be strongly affected by variation in rainfall events under current climate change. Understanding how dry and wet cycle events might influence the metabolic state of indigenous soil microbes is crucial for predicting forest soil responses to environmental change. We used 454 pyrosequencing and quantitative PCR to address how present (DNA-based) and potentially active (RNA-based) soil bacterial communities might response to the changes in water availability across three different forest types located in two continents (Africa and Asia) under controlled drying and rewetting cycles. Sequencing of rRNA gene and transcript indicated that Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria were the most responsive phyla to changes in water availability. We defined the ratio of rRNA transcript to rRNA gene abundance as a key indicator of potential microbial activity and we found that this ratio was increased following soil dry-down process whereas it decreased after soil rewetting. Following rewetting Crenarchaeota-like 16S rRNA gene transcript increased in some forest soils and this was linked to increases in soil nitrate levels suggesting greater nitrification rates under higher soil water availability. Changes in the relative abundance of (1) different microbial phyla and classes, and (2) 16S and amoA genes were found to be site- and taxa-specific and might have been driven by different life-strategies. Overall, we found that, after rewetting, the structure of the present and potentially active bacterial community structure as well as the abundance of bacterial (16S), archaeal (16S) and ammonia oxidizers (amoA), all returned to pre-dry-down levels. This suggests that microbial taxa have the ability to recover from desiccation, a critical response, which will contribute to maintaining microbial biodiversity in harsh ecosystems under environmental perturbations, such as significant changes in water availability.

Project description:In recent years, many peatlands in Europe have been rewetted for nature conservation and global warming mitigation. However, the effects on emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) have been found to be highly variable and driving factors are poorly understood. Therefore, we measured N2O fluxes every two weeks over three years on pairs of sites (one drained, one rewetted) of three important peatland types in North-Eastern Germany, namely, percolation fen, alder forest and coastal fen. Additionally, every three months, sources of N2O were determined using a stable isotope mapping approach. Overall, fluxes were under the very dry conditions of the study years usually small with large temporal and spatial variations. Ammonium concentrations consistently and significantly correlated positively with N2O fluxes for all sites. Cumulative fluxes were often not significantly different from zero and apart from the rewetted alder forest, which was always a source of N2O, sites showed varying cumulative emission behavior (insignificant, source, potentially sink in one case) among years. Precipitation was positively correlated with cumulative fluxes on all drained sites and the rewetted alder forest. Isotope mapping indicated that N2O was always produced by more than one process simultaneously, with the estimated contribution of denitrification varying between 20 and 80%. N2O reduction played a potentially large role, with 5 to 50% of total emissions, showing large variations among sites and over time. Overall, neither the effect of rewetting, water level nor seasonality was clearly reflected in the fluxes or sources. Emissions were concentrated in hotspots and hot moments. A better understanding of the driving factors of N2O production and reduction in (rewetted) fens is essential and stable isotope methods including measurements of 15N and 18O as well as site preferences can help foster the necessary comprehension of the underlying mechanisms. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10705-022-10244-y.

Project description:Droughts are among the most important disturbance events for stream ecosystems; they not only affect stream hydrology but also the stream biota. Although desiccation of streams is common in Mediterranean regions, phases of dryness in headwaters have been observed more often and for longer periods in extended temperate regions, including Central Europe, reflecting global climate change and enhanced water withdrawal. The effects of desiccation and rewetting on the bacterial community composition and extracellular enzyme activity, a key process in the carbon flow of streams and rivers, were investigated in a typical Central European stream, the Breitenbach (Hesse, Germany). Wet streambed sediment is an important habitat in streams. It was sampled and exposed in the laboratory to different drying scenarios (fast, intermediate, slow) for 13 weeks, followed by rewetting of the sediment from the fast drying scenario via a sediment core perfusion technique for 2 weeks. Bacterial community structure was analyzed using CARD-FISH and TGGE, and extracellular enzyme activity was assessed using fluorogenic model substrates. During desiccation the bacterial community composition shifted toward composition in soil, exhibiting increasing proportions of Actinobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria and decreasing proportions of Bacteroidetes and Betaproteobacteria. Simultaneously the activities of extracellular enzymes decreased, most pronounced with aminopeptidases and less pronounced with enzymes involved in the degradation of polymeric carbohydrates. After rewetting, the general ecosystem functioning, with respect to extracellular enzyme activity, recovered after 10 to 14 days. However, the bacterial community composition had not yet achieved its original composition as in unaffected sediments within this time. Thus, whether the bacterial community eventually recovers completely after these events remains unknown. Perhaps this community undergoes permanent changes, especially after harsh desiccation, followed by loss of the specialized functions of specific groups of bacteria.

Dataset Information

Drying-Rewetting and Flooding Impact Denitrifier Activity Rather than Community Structure in a Moderately Acidic Fen.

Publications

Drying-Rewetting and Flooding Impact Denitrifier Activity Rather than Community Structure in a Moderately Acidic Fen.

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