Table A3.

Correlations between the similarity matrices of community structure AOA and AOB, soil chemical parameters (pH, ${\text{N - NH}}_4^{+},{\text{N - NO}}_3^{-},$ OM %, clay content % and water content %) and NEA (relate analysis; NEA from September 2009 to October 2010) obtained with Primer-E (BEST test), for all sampling times.

	NEA (μgN h−1 gdw−1)	Soil type (ANOSIM)	pH (CaCl2)	${\text{N - NH}}_4^{+}$ (mg−1 kg)	${\text{N - NO}}_3^{-}$ (mg−1 kg)	OM (%)	Clay (%)	Humidity (%)
COMMUNITY STRUCTURE (A) ACROSS SEASON (II)
AOA DGGE
June 2009	NA	0.74***	0.18**	0.12*	0.31***	0.16*	0.67**	0.09*
Sept 2009	0.49***	0.63***	0.62**	0.36**	0.20**	0.19**	0.37**	0.15*
Nov 2009	0.39***	0.57***	0.54***	0.33***	0.12*	0.12*	0.35**	0.21**
April 2010	0.28***	0.97***	0.59***	0.13*	0.33***	0.23***	0.23***	0.33***
June 2010	0.25***	0.50***	0.46***	0.16**	0.38***	NS	0.18**	NS
October 2010	0.38***	0.79***	0.30**	0.23*	0.15**	0.17**	0.13*	0.22**
AOB DGGE
June 2009	NA	0.16**	0.24***	0.33***	0.29***	0.23***	0.10**	NS
Sept 2009	0.19**	0.21***	0.29***	0.30***	NS	NS	0.25***	NS
Nov 2009	0.25***	0.10*	0.14**	0.09**	NS	NS	NS	NS
April 2010	0.23***	0.37***	0.31***	NS	NS	0.19*	0.25***	NS
June 2010	0.37***	0.54**	0.44***	0.23*	0.29***	0.25**	0.42***	NS
October 2010	0.17***	0.25**	0.41***	NS	0.15*	NS	NS	NS

ANOSIM, analysis of similarities; NEA, ammonia oxidizing enzyme activity; AOA, ammonia oxidizing archaeal; AOB, ammonia oxidizing bacteria; DGGE, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis; NA, not analyzed; NS, not significant; ***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01; *0.01 < P < 0.05. In April 2009 only four soils were measured and were therefore excluded from further analysis.

The relationship between soil physico-chemical parameters and the community structure of ammonia oxidizers were obtained Global Best test, and the effect of soil type by ANOSIM. Values are Global R values (sample statistic). Correlations between NEA and the community structure of ammonia oxidizers were obtained by RELATE analysis, where values are Spearmans’ Rho values (sample statistic).