Differential response of nonadapted ammonia-oxidising archaea and bacteria to drying-rewetting stress

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of severe drought events followed by heavy rainfall, which will influence growth and activity of soil microorganisms, through osmotic stress and changes in nutrient concentration. There is evidence of rapid recovery of processes and adaptation of communities in soils regularly experiencing drying/rewetting and lower resistance and resilience in nonadapted soils. A microcosm-based study of ammonia-oxidising archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB), employing a grassland soil that rarely experiences drought, was used to test this hypothesis and also whether AOB were more resistant and resilient, through greater tolerance of high ammonia concentrations produced during drought and rewetting. Treated soils were dried, incubated for 3 weeks, rewetted, incubated for a further 3 weeks and compared to untreated soils, maintained at a constant moisture content. Nitrate accumulation and AOA and AOB abundance (abundance of respective amoA genes) and community composition (DGGE analysis of AOA amoA and AOB 16S rRNA genes) were poorly adapted to drying-rewetting. AOA abundance and community composition were less resistant than AOB during drought and less resilient after rewetting, at times when ammonium concentration was higher. Data provide evidence for poor adaptation of microbial communities and processes to drying-rewetting in soils with no history of drought and indicate niche differentiation of AOA and AOB associated with high ammonia concentration.