title: Environmental controls on denitrifying communities and denitrification rates: insights from molecular methods.
abstract: The advent of molecular techniques has improved our understanding of the microbial communities responsible for denitrification and is beginning to address their role in controlling denitrification processes. There is a large diversity of bacteria, archaea, and fungi capable of denitrification, and their community composition is structured by long-term environmental drivers. The range of temperature and moisture conditions, substrate availability, competition, and disturbances have long-lasting legacies on denitrifier community structure. These communities may differ in physiology, environmental tolerances to pH and O2, growth rate, and enzyme kinetics. Although factors such as O2, pH, C availability, and NO3- pools affect instantaneous rates, these drivers act through the biotic community. This review summarizes the results of molecular investigations of denitrifier communities in natural environments and provides a framework for developing future research for addressing connections between denitrifier community structure and function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara 80524, USA. wallenstein@lifesci.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Matthew D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Wallenstein
authors.forename: David D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Myrold
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Firestone
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voytek
mesh_terms: D019641:DNA, Archaeal / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D019641:DNA, Archaeal; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004271:DNA, Fungal; D009566:Nitrates; D009584:Nitrogen