Composition and Activity of N₂-Fixing Microorganisms in Mangrove Forest Soils

• Main Authors: Yo-Jin Shiau, Yu-Te Lin, Rita S. W. Yam, Ed-Haun Chang, Jhe-Ming Wu, Tsu-Hsuan Hsu, Chih-Yu Chiu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: Forests
• Subjects: mangrove; N₂ fixation; diazotrophs; sulfate reducing bacteria; <i>nifH</i> gene; acetylene reduction
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/7/822

Mangrove forests are considered to be a highly productive ecosystem, but they are also generally nitrogen (N)-limited. Thus, soil N₂ fixation can be important for the stability of both mangrove ecosystem functions and upland N supply. This study evaluates the N₂ fixation activity and composition of relevant microorganisms in two coastal mangrove forests—the Guandu mangrove in an upstream estuary and the Bali mangrove in a downstream estuary—using the acetylene reduction method, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and next-generation sequencing. The results demonstrated that ambient nitrogenase activity was higher in downstream mangrove forests (13.2–15.6 nmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ soil) than in upstream mangrove forests (0.2–1.4 nmol h⁻¹ g⁻¹ soil). However, both the maximum potential nitrogenase activity and nitrogenase gene (<i>nifH</i> gene) copy number were found to be higher in the upstream than in the downstream mangrove forests, implying that the nitrogenase activity and diazotrophic abundance may not necessarily be positively correlated. In addition, amended MoO₄ (which inhibits the activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria in N₂-fixation) yielded low nitrogenase activity, and sulfate-reducing bacteria made up 20–50% of the relative diazotrophic abundance in the mangrove forests, indicating that these bacteria might be the major active diazotrophs in this environment.