[Effects of Corbicula fluminea bioturbation on the community composition and abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea and bacteria in surface sediments].

To better understand the effects of Corbicula fluminea bioturbation on the ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in the surface sediment, sediment-water microcosms with different densities of Corbicula fluminea were constructed. Clone libraries and real-time qPCR were applied to analyze the community composition and abundance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) in the surface sediments. The results obtained indicated that the bioturbation of Corbicula fluminea accelerated the release of nitrogen from the surface sediment. In the amoA gene clone libraries, the identified AOA amoA gene sequences affiliated with the two known clusters (marine and soil clusters). The identified AOB amoA gene sequences mostly belonged to the Nitrosomonas of beta-Proteobacteria. The abundance of the bacterial amoA gene was higher than that of the archaeal amoA gene in all treatments. With increasing density of Corbicula fluminea, decreased abundances of the bacterial amoA gene were observed. At the same time, the diversity of AOA and AOB reduced in the Corbicula fluminea containing microcosms. In conclusion, the bioturbation of Corbicula fluminea could affected the community composition and abundance of ammonia-oxidizing microorganisms in surface sediments.