Abstract
In this study, the evaluation of soil characteristics was coupled with a pyrosequencing analysis of the V2-V3 16S rRNA gene region in order to investigate the bacterial community structure and diversity in the A horizon of a natural saline soil located in Sicily (Italy). The main aim of the research was to assess the organisation and diversity of microbial taxa using a spatial scale that revealed physical and chemical heterogeneity of the habitat under investigation. The results provided information on the type of distribution of different bacterial groups as a function of spatial gradients of soil salinity and pH. The analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA showed differences in bacterial composition and diversity due to a variable salt concentration in the soil. The bacterial community showed a statistically significant spatial variability. Some bacterial phyla appeared spread in the whole area, whatever the salinity gradient. It emerged therefore that a patchy saline soil can not contain just a single microbial community selected to withstand extreme osmotic phenomena, but many communities that can be variously correlated to one or more environmental parameters. Sequences have been deposited to the SRA database and can be accessed on ID Project PRJNA241061.
Highlights
Saline soils are environments characterised by high concentrations of salts and by an uneven temporal and spatial water distribution
Electrical conductivity ranged between 169.96 dS m21 to 5.37 dS m21 with values of pH between 6.4 and 8
This is due to the fact that naturally salt-affected soils have a biotechnological potential in their microbial communities, which represent a gene reserve for future exploitation in biotechnological applications, assuming they could be used in some kind of restoration or conservation techniques of saline environments, but they can serve as model systems for exploring the relationships between diversity and activity at the soil level in selective/limiting situations
Summary
Saline soils are environments characterised by high concentrations of salts and by an uneven temporal and spatial water distribution. The two international soil classification systems introduced higher minimum thresholds of ECe to classify a soil horizon as saline. The WRB (World Soil Resources Reports) [2] considers the reference value 15 dS m21 of ECe in defining the saline horizon, while the Soil Taxonomy [3] fixes the threshold at 30 dS m21. A high concentration of salt in soil changes the availability of water and nutrients for both plants and microorganisms, and it has direct and indirect influences on soil organic matter, content, and stability [4]. Has been found to influence the size and the activity of soil microbial biomass [5,6], which in turns plays a key role in biogeochemical cycles
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