Dynamics of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in relation to nitrification along simulated dissolved oxygen gradient in sediment–water interface of the Jiulong river estuarine wetland, China

Dissolved oxygen (DO) is a very important factor controlling the nitrogen cycle in wetlands. However, it is still unclear to what extent the presence of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB), and related nitrification, are influenced by DO in estuarine wetlands. The aims of this study were to determine changes of nitrification at the sediment–water interface, to examine the abundance and diversity of archaeal and bacterial ammonia oxidizers in estuarine sediments, and to identify the correlation between nitrification and ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms along a simulated dissolved oxygen gradient in a Chinese estuarine wetland. The results showed that the nitrification rate was positively correlated with the diversity and abundance of AOA but not AOB, and the abundance and diversity of AOA can explain 87 % of the total variance of the first axes in the redundancy analysis. This indicates that AOA were primarily involved in ammonia oxidation in this study. Additionally, AOB were much more influenced by DO than AOA inferred from the assessment of dominant species and principal coordinates analysis of AOA and AOB. Higher diversity and abundance of AOA occurred in the mangrove sediments, which explain the higher nitrification rates in the mangrove sediments compared to the bare mudflat sediments. Notably, the trend of nitrification rate in the bare mudflat sediments was different from that in the mangrove sediments, suggesting that the extent of nitrification as impacted by DO depends largely on the sediment biotic and nutrient properties, and its environmental conditions including DO levels.