Microbial Community Changes in a Perturbed Agricultural Soil Investigated by Molecular and Physiological Approaches

Abstract

Changes in soil microbial activity and diversity after incubation either with nitrogen or with a mixture of methane and air were examined. The perturbation by methane and air were characterized in detail and led to reduced diversity and enrichment of methanotrophs which were identified by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rRNA sequencing.