You are here:
MICROBIAL ENZYME ACTIVITY FOR CHARACTERIZING NUTRIENT LOADING TO GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS
Citation:
Hill, B. H., C M. Elonen, T. M. Jicha, N. P. Danz, AND R. S. Sarauer. MICROBIAL ENZYME ACTIVITY FOR CHARACTERIZING NUTRIENT LOADING TO GREAT LAKES COASTAL WETLANDS. Presented at American Society of Limnology and Oceanography Aquatic Sciences Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, February 20-25, 2005.
Description:
Energy and material flows in aquatic ecosystems are mediated by microbial carbon and nutrient cycling. Extracellular enzymes produced by the microbial community aid in the degradation of organic matter and the resultant acquisition of limiting nutrients. Organic carbon sequestration by microbial communities is governed not only by organic carbon availability, but also by the availability of nitrogen and trace nutrients. We tested the use of extracellular enzymes produced by sediment microbial communities in their processing of organic carbon as surrogate indicators of nutrient loadings to Great Lakes coastal wetlands. We compared a suite of oxido-reductase and hydrolytic enzymes with land use and nutrient loading gradients derived from PCA analyses of watershed features and anthropogenic activities. The agricultural chemical PCA gradient was positively correlated with measured nitrogen (r=0.83) and phosphorus (r=0.61), and negatively correlated with enzymes related to carbon sequestration, but not correlated with enzymes associated with nutrient acquisition. The land use gradient was negatively correlated with nitrogen (r=-0.70), phosphorus (r=-0.70), chloride (r=-0.70) and sulfate (r=-0.62), and positively correlated with carbon processing enzymes and negatively correlated with nutrient uptake enzymes.