Study on Microbial Community Characteristics in the Northern Wetland Reserve Area of the Modern Yellow River Delta

Abstract

Yellow River Delta has a special status of coastal wetland research in China. The microbial community characteristics such as community structure, activity and size in the wetland were investigated in the modern Yellow River Delta of Shandong Province. The aim was to find the effect of salinity on the microbial community. There was a significant negative linear relationship between soluble salt content and the total number of microbes, overall microbial activity, and diversity of culturally viable microbes. Differences of the soil bacterial community in different depths were monitored using the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) and clone library analyses. In a word, these results indicate that higher salinity and deeper depth resulted in a smaller, more stressed microbial community which was less active and diverse .