Nitrogen and Phosphorus Fertilization Reshapes the Abundance and Structure of Ammonia Oxidizers on a Leymus chinensis Steppe in Northern China

Although nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilization are important for maintaining the health productivity of Leymus chinensis steppe, their impact on abundance community structure ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) archaea (AOA) in this ecosystem is still unclear. We used amoA gene as a molecular marker to monitor changes AOA AOB under low high N P applied resin-core technique measure soil mineralization. found that based copies, ranging from 7.51 × 107 1.23 108 copies g−1 soil, was higher than AOB. Fertilization, especially P, increased number associated with communities were dominated by Crenarchaeota Proteobacteria, respectively. Fertilization decreased relative abundances Thaumarchaeota Proteobacteria Ammonia_oxidizing_bacteria_ensemble. In treatments, transformation closely related but not AOA. Soil ammonium nitrate reshape ammonia oxidizers those L. steppes.