Putative ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in an acidic red soil with different land utilization patterns

Abstract

Ammonia-oxidizers play a key role in nitrification, which is important for nitrogen cycling and soil function. However, little is known about how vegetation successions and agricultural practices caused by human activities impact the ammonia-oxidizers and nitrification process. Putative ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) communities under different land utilization patterns of restoration (forest), degradation (pasture), cropland and pine plantation were analysed in an acidic red soil based on bacterial and archaeal amoA genes together with archaeal 16S rRNA gene. Real-time PCR, terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and sequencing of clone libraries were ..