Laboratory Study of the Effect of Ammonium and Lanthanum Salts on Methane Oxidation and the Composition of Microbial Communities in Sod-Podzolic Soil

Abstract

One of the promising approaches to solving the issues of ecosystem resilience to stress is to assess the response of microbial communities of soils performing important ecological and biospheric functions to natural or anthropogenic impacts. In a model experiment with sod-podzolic soil (Eutric Albic Retisols (Abruptic, Loamic), the inhibitory effect of ammonium and the stimulating effect of lanthanum on the oxidation of methane by soil microorganisms were established. The addition of ammonium and lanthanum reduced the taxonomic diversity of the bacterial community of the soil and changed its structure: the relative content of Gram-positive bacteria of the phylum Actinobacteriota and Bacillota decreased, while the proportion of gram-negative bacteria of the phylum Pseudomonadota increased. The introduction of lanthanum significantly, by several orders of magnitude, increases the relative content in the community of methanotrophs of the genus Methylobacter and obligate methylotrophs of the genus Methylotenera. The results of the work can be used to develop approaches for regulating the activity of the soil “methane filter” and the accompanying microbiota.