Reducing Salinity by Flooding an Extremely Alkaline and Saline Soil Changes the Bacterial Community but Its Effect on the Archaeal Community Is Limited.

ABSTRACT: Regular flooding of the soil to reduce salinity will change soil characteristics, but also the microbial community structure. Soil of the former lake Texcoco with electrolytic conductivity (EC) 157.4 dS m-1 and pH 10.3 was flooded monthly in the laboratory under controlled conditions for 10 months while soil characteristics were determined and the archaeal and bacterial community structure monitored by means of 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The EC of the soil dropped from 157.8 to 1.7 dS m-1 and the clay content decreased from 430 to 270 g kg-1 after ten floodings, but the pH (10.3) did not change significantly over time. Flooding the soil had a limited effect on the archaeal community structure and only the relative abundance of Haloferax-like 16S rRNA phylotypes changed signif

SUBMITTER: de Leon-Lorenzana AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5366314 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature