Spatial variability in nitrification rates and ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities in the agriculturally impacted Elkhorn Slough estuary, California.

ABSTRACT: Ammonia oxidation-the microbial oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and the first step in nitrification-plays a central role in nitrogen cycling in coastal and estuarine systems. Nevertheless, questions remain regarding the connection between this biogeochemical process and the diversity and abundance of the mediating microbial community. In this study, we measured nutrient fluxes and rates of sediment nitrification in conjunction with the diversity and abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing betaproteobacteria (β-AOB). Sediments were examined from four sites in Elkhorn Slough, a small agriculturally impacted coastal California estuary that opens into Monterey Bay. Using an intact sediment core flowthrough incubation system, we observed significant correlations among

SUBMITTER: Wankel SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3019697 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature