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Microbial enzyme activity at the watershed scale: response to chronic nitrogen deposition and acute phosphorus enrichment

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Abstract

Microbial enzymes play a critical role in organic matter decomposition and enzyme activity can dynamically respond to shifts in inorganic nutrient and substrate availability, reflecting the nutrient and energy limitation of the microbial community. We characterized microbial enzyme response to shifting nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability across terrestrial and aquatic environments at the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine, the site of a whole-watershed N enrichment experiment. We compared activity of β-1,4-glucosidase (BG); β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG); acid phosphatase (AP) in soil, leaf litter in terrestrial and stream habitats and stream biofilms in a reference and N enriched watershed, representing whole-ecosystem response to chronic N enrichment. In addition, we used shorter, experimental P enrichments to address potential P limitation under ambient and elevated N availability. We found that BG and NAG activity were not affected by the long-term N enrichment in either habitat. Enhanced P limitation due to N enrichment was evident only in the aquatic habitats with 5- and 8-fold higher treated watershed AP activity in stream biofilms and stream litter, respectively. Acute P additions reduced AP activity and increased BG activity and these effects were also most pronounced in the streams. The stoichiometry of enzyme activity was constrained across ecosystem compartments with regression slopes for lnBG:lnNAG, lnBG:lnAP, and lnNAG:lnAP close to 1, ranging 1.142–1.241. We found that microbial enzyme response to shifting N and P availability varied among watershed compartments, typically with stronger effects in aquatic habitats. This suggests that understanding the response of ecosystem function to disturbance at the watershed scale requires simultaneous consideration of all compartments.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Corianne Tatariw for her much appreciated contribution to substrate saturating concentration test. This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (DEB-1056692, DEB-0841571, REU-1026142 and 11119709, and LTREB-DEB-0639902) and funding through the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station (MAFES). This is contribution #3322 of the MAFES.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth Systems Research Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA

    Madeleine M. Mineau

  2. Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Farrah R. Fatemi

  3. School of Forest Resources, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

    Ivan J. Fernandez

  4. School of Environment, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Kevin S. Simon

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  1. Madeleine M. Mineau
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  2. Farrah R. Fatemi
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  3. Ivan J. Fernandez
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Correspondence to Madeleine M. Mineau.

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Mineau, M.M., Fatemi, F.R., Fernandez, I.J. et al. Microbial enzyme activity at the watershed scale: response to chronic nitrogen deposition and acute phosphorus enrichment. Biogeochemistry 117, 131–142 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-013-9869-6

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