Response of Nitrifier and Denitrifier Abundance to Salinity Gradients in Agricultural Soils at the Yellow River Estuary
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This research has specific target on salinity which is one of major subjects of post treatment in agricultural effluent. Nowadays, many of countries facing on with environmental impacts of salinity in agricultural effluent such as winery wastewater.
Author Response
Thank you for the reviewer's positive comments.
Reviewer 2 Report
The manuscript provides a fairly robust dataset on assessing the impact of salinity levels on nitrifier and denitrifier communities in agricultural soils. I suggest accepting the manuscript following minor revision.
Specific comments
The manuscript needs major English editing.
Line 112 please modify to be “as previously described by Rath et al. [2], similarly, Line 122 “as previously described by Li et al. [43]” also the references in Table 1 should be presented using the same way. Please follow that way throughout the manuscript.
The presentation of Figures 1, 2, and 4 need to be improved
The abbreviations in Figure 3 need to be explained as a footnote
Figure 4 was not cited in the text
The discussion section needs to be improved and the obtained results need to be discussed better
The reference style should be consistent
Author Response
The manuscript needs major English editing.
Our response: we carefully revised the MS with the help from a native speaker.
Line 112 please modify to be “as previously described by Rath et al. [2], similarly, Line 122 “as previously described by Li et al. [43]” also the references in Table 1 should be presented using the same way. Please follow that way throughout the manuscript.
Our response: OK
The presentation of Figures 1, 2, and 4 need to be improved.
Our response: We corrected the incorrect descriptions related to these figures.
The abbreviations in Figure 3 need to be explained as a footnote.
Our response: We incorporated the explanations of abbreviations in figure 3
Figure 4 was not cited in the text.
Our response:We corrected this error.
The discussion section needs to be improved and the obtained results need to be discussed better.
Our response: we modified some discussions accordingly
The reference style should be consistent
Our response: We corrected the reference styles where incosistence.
Reviewer 3 Report
In this study the effect of salinity on nitrifiers and denitrifiers communities in agricultural soils along a naturally occurring salinity gradient at the yellow river estuary was assesssed by means of real time PCR assays using specific primers. Results show that at the increasing of salinity the abundance of nitrifiers significantly decrease. Moreover, Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) were more susceptible to the salinity level than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and the relative abundance of Nitrobacter was increased in the saline soils. High salinity has an impact also on some denitrifiers as the abundance of napA and nirK genes decrease. Other than salinity total nitrogen (TN)+total sulfur(TS)+total phosphorus+available potassium and TN+TS+C/N have an impact on the denitrifier and nitrifier communities.
General comment
The topic of the manuscript is of interest for the scientific comunity as soil salinity is a major global issue owing to its adverse impact on soil health and hence on agricultural productivity and sustainability. The experimental plan is good and the conclusion supported by results. However, there are several points that must be addressed to warrant the pubblication. In particular the presentation of results must be improved (see specific comments). The grammar of the text should be improved.
Specific comment
Lines 78-79. Please check the english language.
Line 88. Change “o” to “on”.
Line 188. The verb is lacking.
Line 106. Change “proportion” to “aliquot”.
Lines 112-112. The sentence is not clear . Do greater EC values means higher salinity?
Line 113-118. Please move all this part to result section with a dedicate chapter.
Insert point before “Soil C/N”.
Line 122. Add “quality and purity” between “The” and extracted.
Line 152. Please give more details on figure 1 in the text expecially for 1E, 1H, 1I and 1J.
Lines 155-156. Please check if the sentence is correct.
Figure 2. The quality of the pictures need to be improved. Also the figure legend must be changed to Relative gene abundance of nitrifiers, denitrifiers......,
Lines 186-189. In the text Fig 5 should be Fig.4. Moreover a comment on Fig. 4C is missing.
Line 205. Figure 6 does not exist. This is figure 5.
Avoid in the discussion section to mention figures.
Author Response
Thank you for the specfic comments of this reviewer.
We corrected these errors accordingly.
Lines 78-79. Please check the english language.
Reply: We revised this sentence.
Line 88. Change “o” to “on”.
Reply: OK
Line 188. The verb is lacking.
Reply:We privided an verb.
Line 106. Change “proportion” to “aliquot”.
reply: OK
Lines 112-112. The sentence is not clear . Do greater EC values means higher salinity?
Reply: Yes. EC>4 indicates high salinity.
Line 113-118. Please move all this part to result section with a dedicate chapter.
Reply: OK
Insert point before “Soil C/N”.
Reply:OK
Line 122. Add “quality and purity” between “The” and extracted.
Reply:OK
Line 152. Please give more details on figure 1 in the text expecially for 1E, 1H, 1I and 1J.
Reply: we give some details for 1E to 1J.
Lines 155-156. Please check if the sentence is correct.
Reply:OK
Figure 2. The quality of the pictures need to be improved. Also the figure legend must be changed to Relative gene abundance of nitrifiers, denitrifiers......,
Reply:OK
Lines 186-189. In the text Fig 5 should be Fig.4. Moreover a comment on Fig. 4C is missing.
Reply: OK
Line 205. Figure 6 does not exist. This is figure 5.
Reply:OK
Avoid in the discussion section to mention figures.
Reply: We deleted all figure mentions.
