Land use in the Prairie Pothole Region influences the soil bacterial community composition and relative abundance of nitrogen cycling genes
Date
2023
Authors
Town, Jennifer
Yu, Min
Lemke, Reynald
Helgason, Bobbi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Canadian Science Publishing
ORCID
Type
Article
Degree Level
Abstract
The undulating topography of Prairie Pothole Region of North America creates spatial and temporal variability in soil moisture and nutrient levels, affecting microbial community processes and greenhouse gas emissions. By identifying differences in soil bacterial and archaeal community composition and the abundance of nitrogen cycling genes in permanent cover versus annual crop land over two growing seasons (2017 and 2018), we were able to assess the effects of topography and land use on the functional capacity of the soil microbiome. Permanent grassland cover was associated with higher bacterial diversity in upland positions and lower diversity in low-lying depressions. Bacterial community composition was also significantly different between cultivated and permanent cover at all points along the topographic slope, with the largest effects seen in the footslope and backslope positions. Compared to permanent cover, soil from annual cropland had consistently more abundant nitrifiers, including Nitrospira in the toeslope and backslope, and Nitrososphaeraceae in the shoulder and knoll samples while soils from permanent cover had a greater abundance of several Alphaproteobacteria from Rhodospirillales and Hyphomicrobiaceae across multiple upland positions. Upland soils from annual cropland also had consistently higher abundance of both bacterial and archaeal ammonia oxidizing (amoA) genes and a higher ratio of nirK:nirS genes compared to those from permanent cover. These differences in microbial community composition were associated with higher N2O and CO2 emissions in upland soils in annual cropland; however, there were no differences in GHG emissions between the two systems in low-lying positions.
Description
© 2023 Author Helgason, and His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Keywords
nitrification, denitrification, microbial activity, topography, soil ecology
Citation
Jennifer R. Town, Min Yu, Reynald Lemke, and Bobbi L. Helgason. 2023. Land use in the Prairie Pothole Region influences the soil bacterial community composition and relative abundance of nitrogen cycling genes. Canadian Journal of Soil Science. 103(3): 471-482. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2022-0121
Degree
Department
Program
Advisor
Committee
Citation
Jennifer R. Town, Min Yu, Reynald Lemke, and Bobbi L. Helgason. 2023. Land use in the Prairie Pothole Region influences the soil bacterial community composition and relative abundance of nitrogen cycling genes. Canadian Journal of Soil Science. 103(3): 471-482. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2022-0121
Part Of
item.page.relation.ispartofseries
DOI
10.1139/cjss-2022-012