Spatiotemporal distribution of aerobic ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in sediments of Lake Donghu, Wuhan

The amoA gene abundances of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA-amoA) and bacteria (AOB-amoA) in the sediments of Lake Donghu, Wuhan, was determined by the real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Moreover, the influence of nitrogen content on the temporal and spatial distribution of AOA and AOB was analyzed. The results showed that the abundance of AOA-amoA was higher than that of AOB-amoA, indicating greater contribution of AOA-amoA to the ammonia oxidation process. Meanwhile, the abundances of AOA-amoA and AOB-amoA decreased with elevated sediment depth. In addition, the concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) and nitrite nitrogen (NO2--N) in interstitial water were 6.28~33.56, 2.71~22.7, 0.12~0.98 and 0.01~0.13mg/L, respectively. The average concentrations of TN, NH4+-N, NO3--N and NO2--N in overlying water were 1.68, 0.79, 0.16 and 0.04mg/L, respectively, while in surface water were 1.34, 0.62, 0.11 and 0.03mg/L, respectively. These results suggested that the sediments of Lake Donghu were important sources of nutrient. In addition, the abundance of AOA-amoA was positively correlated with the concentrations of NH4+-N and NO2--N in interstitial water (P2--N in interstitial water (P © 2021, Editorial Board of China Environmental Science. All right reserved.