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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2005, p. 2713-2722, Vol. 71, No. 5
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.5.2713-2722.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Changes in Nitrogen-Fixing and Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacterial Communities in Soil of a Mixed Conifer Forest after Wildfire

Chris M. Yeager,1 Diana E. Northup,2 Christy C. Grow,1 Susan M. Barns,1 and Cheryl R. Kuske1*

Biosciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico,1 Biology Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico2

Received 3 September 2004/ Accepted 2 December 2004

This study was undertaken to examine the effects of forest fire on two important groups of N-cycling bacteria in soil, the nitrogen-fixing and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Sequence and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis of nifH and amoA PCR amplicons was performed on DNA samples from unburned, moderately burned, and severely burned soils of a mixed conifer forest. PCR results indicated that the soil biomass and proportion of nitrogen-fixing and ammonia-oxidizing species was less in soil from the fire-impacted sites than from the unburned sites. The number of dominant nifH sequence types was greater in fire-impacted soils, and nifH sequences that were most closely related to those from the spore-forming taxa Clostridium and Paenibacillus were more abundant in the burned soils. In T-RFLP patterns of the ammonia-oxidizing community, terminal restriction fragments (TRFs) representing amoA cluster 1, 2, or 4 Nitrosospira spp. were dominant (80 to 90%) in unburned soils, while TRFs representing amoA cluster 3A Nitrosospira spp. dominated (65 to 95%) in fire-impacted soils. The dominance of amoA cluster 3A Nitrosospira spp. sequence types was positively correlated with soil pH (5.6 to 7.5) and NH3-N levels (0.002 to 0.976 ppm), both of which were higher in burned soils. The decreased microbial biomass and shift in nitrogen-fixing and ammonia-oxidizing communities were still evident in fire-impacted soils collected 14 months after the fire.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: M888 Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545. Phone: (505) 665-4800. Fax: (505) 665-3024. E-mail: kuske{at}lanl.gov.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2005, p. 2713-2722, Vol. 71, No. 5
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.5.2713-2722.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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