Temperature dependence of microbial degradation of organic matter in marine sediments:polysaccharide hydrolysis, oxygen consumption, and sulfate reduction ...

• Main Authors: Sagemann, J., Jørgensen, B. B., Thamdrup, B., Arnosti, C.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries 1998
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17615/sce5-4079; https://cdr.lib.unc.edu/concern/articles/6w924n056

The temperature dependence of representative initial and terminal steps of organic carbon remineralization was measured at 2 temperate sites with annual temperature ranges of 0 to 30°C and 4 to 15°C and 2 Arctic sites with temperatures of 2.6 and –1.7°C. Slurried sediments were incubated in a temperature gradient block spanning a temperature range of ca 45°C. The initial step of organic carbon remineralization, macromolecule hydrolysis, was measured via the enzymatic hydrolysis of fluorescently labeled polysaccharides. The terminal steps of organic carbon remineralization were monitored through consumption of oxygen and reduction of 35SO42–. At each of the 4 sites, the temperature response of the initial step of organic carbon remineralization was similar to that of the terminal steps. Although optimum temperatures were always well above ambient environmental temperatures, optimum temperatures generally decreased with decreasing environmental temperatures. Activity at 5°C as a percentage of highest activity ...