Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Temperature sensitivity of soil enzymes along an elevation gradient in the Peruvian Andes
AU - Nottingham, Andrew
AU - Turner, Benjamin L.
AU - Whitaker, Jeanette
AU - Ostle, Nicholas John
AU - Bardgett, Richard David
AU - McNamara, Niall P.
AU - Salinas, Norma
AU - Meir, Patrick
PY - 2016/2
Y1 - 2016/2
N2 - Soil enzymes are catalysts of organic matter depolymerisation, which is of critical importance for ecosystem carbon (C) cycling. Better understanding of the sensitivity of enzymes to temperature will enable improved predictions of climate change impacts on soil C stocks. These impacts may be especially large in tropical montane forests, which contain large amounts of soil C. We determined the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of a range of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes involved in organic matter cycling from soils along a 1900 m elevation gradient (a 10 °C mean annual temperature gradient) of tropical montane forest in the Peruvian Andes. We investigated whether the activity (Vmax) of selected enzymes: (i) exhibited a Q10 that varied with elevation and/or soil properties; and (ii) varied among enzymes and according to the complexity of the target substrate for C-degrading enzymes. The Q10 of Vmax for β-glucosidase and β-xylanase increased with increasing elevation and declining mean annual temperature. For all other enzymes, including cellobiohydrolase, N-acetyl β-glucosaminidase and phosphomonoesterase, the Q10 of Vmax did not vary linearly with elevation. Hydrolytic enzymes that degrade more complex C compounds had a greater Q10 of Vmax, but this pattern did not apply to oxidative enzymes because phenol oxidase had the lowest Q10 value of all enzymes studied here. Our findings suggest that regional differences in the temperature sensitivities of different enzyme classes may influence the terrestrial C cycle under future climate warming.
AB - Soil enzymes are catalysts of organic matter depolymerisation, which is of critical importance for ecosystem carbon (C) cycling. Better understanding of the sensitivity of enzymes to temperature will enable improved predictions of climate change impacts on soil C stocks. These impacts may be especially large in tropical montane forests, which contain large amounts of soil C. We determined the temperature sensitivity (Q10) of a range of hydrolytic and oxidative enzymes involved in organic matter cycling from soils along a 1900 m elevation gradient (a 10 °C mean annual temperature gradient) of tropical montane forest in the Peruvian Andes. We investigated whether the activity (Vmax) of selected enzymes: (i) exhibited a Q10 that varied with elevation and/or soil properties; and (ii) varied among enzymes and according to the complexity of the target substrate for C-degrading enzymes. The Q10 of Vmax for β-glucosidase and β-xylanase increased with increasing elevation and declining mean annual temperature. For all other enzymes, including cellobiohydrolase, N-acetyl β-glucosaminidase and phosphomonoesterase, the Q10 of Vmax did not vary linearly with elevation. Hydrolytic enzymes that degrade more complex C compounds had a greater Q10 of Vmax, but this pattern did not apply to oxidative enzymes because phenol oxidase had the lowest Q10 value of all enzymes studied here. Our findings suggest that regional differences in the temperature sensitivities of different enzyme classes may influence the terrestrial C cycle under future climate warming.
KW - β-glucosidase
KW - β-xylanase
KW - Q10 values
KW - Soil carbon
KW - Tropical montane forest
U2 - 10.1007/s10533-015-0176-2
DO - 10.1007/s10533-015-0176-2
M3 - Journal article
VL - 127
SP - 217
EP - 230
JO - Biogeochemistry
JF - Biogeochemistry
SN - 0168-2563
IS - 2
ER -