Effects of simulated nitrogen deposition on soil microbial community diversity in coastal wetland of the Yellow River Delta

Due to the enhancement of human activities on the global scale, the total amount of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition and the rate keep increasing, which seriously affect the structure and function of terrestrial ecosystems. In order to study the effects of N deposition on the soil structure and function of coastal saline wetlands, we established a long-term nitrogen deposition simulation platform in 2012 in the Yellow River delta (YRD). Herein, we analyzed the composition and diversity of the soil microbial community under different N deposition treatments (LNN, MNN and HNN, which stand for 50 kg N ha −1  yr −1, 100 kg N ha −1  yr −1, and 200 kg N ha −1  yr −1 ) and in a water-only control (CK). The results showed that with the increasing level of N deposition, α-diversity (Shannon and Simpson indices) decreased significantly, and the composition of the microbial community changed. At the phylum level, compared with CK, the relative abundance of Chloroflexi increased significantly under the treatment of HNN ( P  = 0.002), but the relative abundance of Chlorobi ( P  = 0.013) and Verrucomicrobia ( P  = 0.035) decreased significantly. At the genus level, compared with CK, the relative abundance of Bacillus ( P  = 0.01) and Halomonas ( P  = 0.042) increased significantly with HNN treatment. Bacillus and Nitrococcus showed a significant correlation with soil NH 4 + -N. The results suggest that the response of microorganisms to N deposition treatments varied by the concentration, and the deposition of a high concentration would increase the nutrients in the soil, but reduce the diversity of soil microorganisms, causing a negative impact on the coastal wetland ecosystem of the YRD.