Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria play an important role in nitrification of acidic soils: A meta-analysis

Abstract

Our knowledge of the abundance and distribution of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) has substantially expanded over the past decade, but their relative contributions to soil nitrification remain debated, particularly at a global scale. Nitrification inhibitor 1-octyne is the only available selective inhibitor that can exclusively inhibit AOB but not AOA activity, making it a powerful tool to differentiate the functional importance of AOB vs AOA in nitrification. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of laboratory incubation studies with 1-octyne as the nitrification inhibitor to display a panoramic view of the relative contribution of AOB in soil nitrificatio..