New processes of microbial transformation of nitrogen in soils as a source of greenhouse gases

Abstract

DNA isolation from soil samples and amplification of fragment of a key gene of nitrification, archaeal and bacterial amoA, revealed presence of the product in all investigated soil samples. Characteristics of ammonia-oxidizing microbial communities in agrocenoses and undisturbed soil were determined. Bacteria were predominant in agrocenoses (at circum-neurtal pH), whereas the share of representatives of domain Archaea (phylum Thaumarchaeota) increased in prokaryotic ammonia-oxidizing complexes of undisturbed forest ecosystems (at low pH). It was demonstrated that the contribution of taumarhaea in nitrous oxide emission from gray forest soil may reach 20–25%.