title: Influence of land-use intensity on the spatial distribution of N-cycling microorganisms in grassland soils.
abstract: A geostatistical approach using replicated grassland sites (10 m × 10 m) was applied to investigate the influence of grassland management, i.e. unfertilized pastures and fertilized mown meadows representing low and high land-use intensity (LUI), on soil biogeochemical properties and spatial distributions of ammonia-oxidizing and denitrifying microorganisms in soil. Spatial autocorrelations of the different N-cycling communities ranged between 1.4 and 7.6 m for ammonia oxidizers and from 0.3 m for nosZ-type denitrifiers to scales >14 m for nirK-type denitrifiers. The spatial heterogeneity of ammonia oxidizers and nirS-type denitrifiers increased in high LUI, but decreased for biogeochemical properties, suggesting that biotic and/or abiotic factors other than those measured are driving the spatial distribution of these microorganisms at the plot scale. Furthermore, ammonia oxidizers (amoA ammonia-oxidizing archaea and amoA ammonia-oxidizing bacteria) and nitrate reducers (napA and narG) showed spatial coexistence, whereas niche partitioning was found between nirK- and nirS-type denitrifiers. Together, our results indicate that spatial analysis is a useful tool to characterize the distribution of different functional microbial guilds with respect to soil biogeochemical properties and land-use management. In addition, spatial analyses allowed us to identify distinct distribution ranges indicating the coexistence or niche partitioning of N-cycling communities in grassland soil.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Soil Science and Land Evaluation, Soil Biology Section, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Keil
authors.forename: Annabel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: Doreen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berner
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poll
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schützenmeister
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Piepho
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vlasenko
authors.forename: Laurent
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Philippot
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schloter
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kandeler
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marhan
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D000641:Ammonia / Q000378:metabolism; D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D058440:Denitrification; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D005858:Germany; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D006109:Poaceae / Q000382:microbiology*; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D009566:Nitrates; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012987:Soil; D000641:Ammonia; D009584:Nitrogen