Soils and their microbiological properties from a transect from Cape Horn to the Antarctic Peninsula

• Main Authors: Bolter,Manfred, Blume,Hans-Peter, Kuhn,Dieter
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Institute fur Polarokologie der Christian-Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel/Institute fur Pflanzenernahrung und Bodenkunde der Christian- Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel/Institute fur Pflanzenernahrung und Bodenkunde der Christian- Albrechts-Universitat zu Kiel 1999
• Subjects: Antarctic; soils; nutrients; microorganisms; size classes; The Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Cape Horn; Horn The; Antarc*; Polar bioscience
• Online Access: https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_uri&item_id=6131; http://id.nii.ac.jp/1291/00006131/; https://nipr.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=6131&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1

Soils of the southernmost islands of South America (Cape Horn), the Falkland Islands, South Georgia, South Orkneys, South Shetlands, the Antarctic Peninsula and Poulet Island are described and analyzed for soil properties, soil taxonomy and microorganisms. Results showed a great variety of soils. Leptosols, gleysols, regosols, cambisols, podzols, andosols and histosols are described. Podzolization was found in all climatic regions. Influences of bird colonies can be demonstrated by extractable phosphate and low C/N ratios. The bacterial flora is described via total counts (range between 0.06-10.45・10^9g^<-1>d. wt.) and biomass distributions (range between 0.47-102.7μgCg^<-1> d. wt.) in different soil layers. Total number or total biomass are not related to geographic or internal soil patterns but to contents of organic matter. Similarly, mean cell volumes of bacteria (range between 0.06 and 0.1μm^3) are found to be related to nutrient levels. Distributions of bacterial communities show individual patterns of soil profiles and are not related to an overall geographical pattern.