Response of microbial community composition and function to emergent plant rhizosphere of a constructed wetland in northern China

Abstract To understand the mechanisms by which emergent plants influence the microbial communities in wetland sediments, we analyzed the response of microbial composition, abundance, metabolic activity, and metabolic genes to three emergent plant species [Cyperus alternifolius L. (Cyp), Typha angustifolia L. (Typ), and Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud. (Phr)], and determined the important physicochemical properties of the soils and root exudates in Zhaoniu River Constructed Wetland in northern China. We found the composition of both the microbial communities and the metabolic genes differed between rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere sediments. The rhizosphere microbial abundance in Phr in summer was significantly higher than in the other two plants and in the non-rhizosphere. The rates of microbial respiration and ammonia oxidation in rhizosphere sediments were significantly higher than those in non-rhizosphere sediments. Our statistical analyses showed that the total organic carbon (TOC) concentration in root exudates and the oxidation–reduction potential (ORP) significantly influenced the differences in the composition, abundance, and metabolic activities of the microbial community and metabolic genes between rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere sediments, suggesting that the secretion of root exudates and oxygen by emergent plants was the main mechanism affecting the composition and function of the microbial community. As the result of the high levels of TOC and the ORP, the rhizosphere sediments showed relatively high abundances of the genes related to biodegradation of xenobiotic compounds. By contrast, non-rhizosphere sediments showed relatively high abundances of genes related to carbon fixation and sulfate reduction, possibly due to the low levels of TOC and ORP. Plants with an enhanced ability to secrete root exudates and oxygen, such as Phr, should be preferred in constructed wetlands to increase the metabolic activity of sediment microbial communities. This study extends our understanding of the mechanisms by which the plant rhizosphere affects the ecological functions of wetlands.