Consequences of microbial diversity in forest nitrogen cycling: diverse ammonifiers and specialized ammonia oxidizers

• Isobe, Kazuo

  Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo

• Ise, Yuta

  Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo

• Kato, Hiroyu

  Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo

• Oda, Tomoki

  Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo

• Vincenot, E., Christian

  Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University

• Koba, Keisuke

  Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University

• Tateno, Ryunosuke

  Field Science Education and Research Center, Kyoto University

• Senoo, Keishi

  Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo･Collaborative Research Institute for Innovative Microbiology, The University of Tokyo

• Ohte, Nobuhito

  Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University

Abstract

We tested the ecosystem functions of microbial diversity with a focus on ammonification (involving diverse microbial taxa) and nitrification (involving only specialized microbial taxa) in forest nitrogen cycling. This study was conducted on a forest slope, in which the soil environment and plant growth gradually changed. We measured the gross and net rates of ammonification and nitrification, the abundance of predicted ammonifiers and nitrifiers, and their community compositions in the soils. The abundance of predicted ammonifiers did not change along the soil environmental gradient, leading to no significant change in the gross ammonification rate. On the other hand, the abundance of nitrifiers and the gross nitrification rate gradually changed. These accordingly determined the spatial distribution of net accumulation of ammonium and nitrate available to plants. The community composition of predicted ammonifiers gradually changed along the slope, implying that diverse ammonifiers were more likely to include taxa that were acclimated to the soil environment and performed ammonification at different slope locations than specialized nitrifiers. Our findings suggest that the abundance of ammonifiers and nitrifiers directly affects the corresponding nitrogen transformation rates, and that their diversity affects the stability of the rates against environmental changes. This study highlights the role of microbial diversity in biogeochemical processes under changing environments and plant growth.

Journal

• ISME Journal

  ISME Journal 14 12-25, 2020

  Springer Science and Business Media LLC

Details

• CRID: 1050002213397982208
• NII Article ID: 120006800755
• ISSN: 17517362
• HANDLE: 2433/245915
• Text Lang: en
• Article Type: journal article
• Data Source:
  • IRDB
  • CiNii Articles