Effect of afforestation and reforestation of pastures on the activity and population dynamics of methanotrophic bacteria.
We investigated the effect of afforestation and reforestation of pastures on methane oxidation and the methanotrophic communities in soils from three different New Zealand sites. Methane oxidation was measured in soils from two pine (Pinus radiata) forests and one shrubland (mainly Kunzea ericoides var. ericoides) and three adjacent permanent pastures. The methane oxidation rate was consistently higher in the pine forest or shrubland soils than in the adjacent pasture soils. A combination of phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) and stable isotope probing (SIP) analyses of these soils revealed that different methanotrophic communities were active in soils under the different vegetations. The C18 PLFAs (signature of type II methanotrophs) predominated under pine and shrublands, and C16 PLFAs (type I methanotrophs) predominated under pastures. Analysis of the methanotrophs by molecular methods revealed further differences in methanotrophic community structure under the different vegetation types. Cloning and sequencing and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the particulate methane oxygenase gene (pmoA) from different samples confirmed the PLFA-SIP results that methanotrophic bacteria related to type II methanotrophs were dominant in pine forest and shrubland, and type I methanotrophs (related to Methylococcus capsulatus) were dominant in all pasture soils. We report that afforestation and reforestation of pastures caused changes in methane oxidation by altering the community structure of methanotrophic bacteria in these soils.
Singh
Brajesh K
BK
Macaulay Institute, Environmental Sciences, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, United Kingdom. b.singh@macaulay.ac.uk
Tate
Kevin R
KR
Kolipaka
Gokul
G
Hedley
Carolyn B
CB
Macdonald
Catriona A
CA
Millard
Peter
P
Murrell
J Colin
JC
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017753:Ecosystem; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D016468:Forestry; D008697:Methane / Q000378:metabolism*; D008772:Methylococcaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009520:New Zealand; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010105:Oxygenases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D063245:Plant Development; D010944:Plants / Q000378:metabolism*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D012988:Soil Microbiology
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D005227:Fatty Acids; D010743:Phospholipids; D012987:Soil; D010105:Oxygenases; D008697:Methane