PRELIMINARY REPORT ON CELLULOLYTIC ACTIVITY IN THE ANTARCTIC REGION (EXTENDED ABSTRACT)

• Main Authors: Hiroki Yamamoto, Shuji Ohtani, Kadzunori Tatsuyama, Masaru Akiyama
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; Langhovde; Syowa Station; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.594.8802; http://polaris.nipr.ac.jp/~penguin/polarbiosci/issues/pdf/1991-Yamamoto.pdf

The biochemical and ecologic cycle of life in its simplest form involves three major processes, production, consumption and decomposition, but most biological research in the Antarctic region has concentrated on aut- and synecology, and primary production. Several studies on organic matter decomposition in the region has been reported (ELLIS-EVANS, 1985; LAWSON, 1985; WYNN-WILLIAMS, 1985). But few study on the decompo-sition of cellulose, which is the most abundant organic compound in nature and has a special significance in the biological cycle of carbon, was reported except a study in South Georgia (SMITH, 1981; WALTON, 1985). In the present study, a preliminary investigation on cellulose decomposition by soil microoragnisms was carried out at Syowa Station and Langhovde, Antarctica. Benchkote sheet method (TATSUYAMA et al., 1984) was used for the estimation of cellulose decomposition in the soil. The sheet is polyethylene-backed filter paper con-taining 0.06 % of ash. Cellulose material amounts to 78 % of the sheet in weight. A protocol of the method is summarized in Fig. 1. Five sites in Syowa Station, three sites at a hut for biological research in Langhovde and six sites in the Yukidori Valley