New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts
Microbial enzymatic response to catchment-scale variations
in supply of dissolved organic carbon
STUART FINDLAY
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Millbrook
New York, United States 12545
CHRISTOPHER W. HICKEY
JOHN M. QUINN
National Institute of Water & Atmospheric
Research Ltd
P. O. Box 11 115
Hamilton, New Zealand
Abstract A suite of exoenzyme activities was assayed in three
New Zealand streams draining pasture, native forest, and a pine catchment.
There were differences among catchments in activity of three of the five
enzymes assayed (cellobiohydrolase, N-acetylglucosaminidase, and
dihydroxylphenylalanine oxidation). A principal components analysis (PCA)
demonstrates that patterns of enzyme activity can be used to separate the three
stream types. An experimental addition of algal-leachate, leaf-litter leachate,
and high dissolved organic carbon (DOC) water from a small seep also resulted
in marked shifts in epilithic enzyme activities 1 day after DOC additions.
Oxidative enzymes showed a particularly strong response to additions of humic
DOC. As for the field samples, a PCA showed large differences among treatments
indicating that exoenzyme patterns can be used to examine which DOC sources
predominate in different streams. Application of this approach to describing
differences among streams will require detailed seasonal sampling together with
longer-term experiments.
Keywords microbes; bacteria; land use; epilithon; enzymes
New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1997, Vol. 31:
701-706
0028-8330/97/3105-0701 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1997
Short communication
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (477K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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