Low nitrification rates in acid Scots pine forest soils are due to pH-related factors

Abstract

In a previous study, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB)-like sequences were detected in the fragmentation layer of acid Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forest soils (pH 2.9-3.4) with high nitrification rates (>11.0 microg g-1 dry soil week-1), but were not detected in soils with low nitrification rates (<0.5 microg g-1 dry soil week-1). In the present study, we investigated whether this low nitrification rate has a biotic cause (complete absence of AOB) or an abiotic cause (unfavorable environmental conditions). Therefore, two soils strongly differing in net nitrification were compared: one soil with a low nitrification rate (location Schoorl) and another soil with a high nitrification rate (location Wekerom) were subjected to liming and/or ammonium amendment treatments. Nitrification was assessed by analysis of dynamics in NH4+-N and NO3- -N concentrations, whereas the presence and composition of AOB communities were assessed by polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and sequencing of the ammonia monooxygenase (amoA) gene. Liming, rather than ammonium amendment, stimulated the growth of AOB and their nitrifying activity in Schoorl soil. The retrieved amoA sequences from limed (without and with N amendment) Schoorl and Wekerom soils exclusively belong to Nitrosospira cluster 2. Our study suggests that low nitrification rates in acidic Scots pine forest soils are due to pH-related factors. Nitrosospira cluster 2 detected in these soils is presumably a urease-positive cluster type of AOB.