Distribution patterns of typical enzyme activities in tundra soils on the Fildes Peninsula of maritime Antarctica

• Main Authors: Wei, Ding, Qing, Wang, Renbin, Zhu, Dawei, Ma
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2015
• Subjects: Cryosphere; Fauna; Terrestrial; Advances in Polar Science; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Polar Science; Tundra
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/2556/; http://library.arcticportal.org/2556/1/A20150105.pdf

Soil enzyme activities can be used as indicators of microbial activity and soil fertility. In this paper, the activities of invertase (IA), phosphatase (PA) and urease (UA) were investigated in tundra soils collected from marine animal colonies, areas of human activity and background areas on Fildes Peninsula, maritime Antarctica. Soil enzyme activities were in the range of 1.0 82.7 mg·kg-1·h-1 for IA, 0.2–8.2 mg·kg-1·h-1 for PA and 0.2–39.8 mg·kg-1·h-1 for UA. The spatial distribution patterns for soil enzyme activities corresponded strongly with marine animal activity and human activity. Significantly higher soil IA and PA activities occurred in penguin colony soils, whereas seal colony soils showed higher UA activity. Statistical analysis indicated that soil IA activity was controlled by the levels of soil nutrients (TOC, TN and TP), PA activity was closely related with TP, and UA activity was affected by the soil pH. Overall, the deposition amount of penguin guano or seal excreta could impact the distribution of enzyme activity in Antarctic tundra soils. Multiple stepwise regression models were established between the enzyme activities, soil physicochemical properties and heavy metals Cu and Zn ([IA]=0.7[TP] 0.2[Cu]+22.3[TN]+15.1, [PA]=0.3[TP]+0.03[Mc]+0.2, [UA]=16.7[pH]–0.5[Cu]+ 0.4[Zn]–72.6). These models could be used to predict enzyme activities in the tundra soils, which could be helpful to study the effects of marine animal activity and environmental change on tundra ecosystems in maritime Antarctica.