Effects of Sea Animal Activities on Tundra Soil Denitrification and nirS- and nirK-Encoding Denitrifier Community in Maritime Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: In maritime Antarctica, sea animals, such as penguins or seals, provide a large amount of external nitrogen input into tundra soils, which greatly impact nitrogen cycle in tundra ecosystems. Denitrification, which is closely related with the denitrifiers, is a key step in nitrogen cycle. However, effects of sea animal activities on tundra soil denitrification and denitrifier community structures still have received little attention. Here, the abundance, activity, and diversity of nirS- and nirK-encoding denitrifiers were investigated in penguin and seal colonies, and animal-lacking tundra in maritime Antarctica. Sea animal activities increased the abundances of nirS and nirK genes, and the abundances of nirS genes were significantly higher than those of nirK genes (p < 0.05) in all

SUBMITTER: Dai HT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7581892 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature