Impacts of hydrological conditions on enzyme activities and phenolic concentrations in peatland soil: An experimental simulation

doi:10.1007/s11707-010-0140-3

Front Earth Sci Chin

2010, Vol. 4

Issue (4) : 463-470 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-010-0140-3

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Impacts of hydrological conditions on enzyme activities and phenolic concentrations in peatland soil: An experimental simulation

Xingting SUN¹, Wu XIANG^1,2(

), Ling HE¹, Yulong ZHAO¹

1. Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China; 2. Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology of Ministry of Education, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

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Abstract

Impacts of hydrological conditions on peatland soil enzyme activities and phenolic concentrations were investigated using peat cores from two typical peatlands, the forest swamp and the marsh in North-east China, under water level manipulation in the laboratory. The results indicated varied impacts of dry and waterlogged conditions on soil enzyme activities, depending on the confounding factors including the peatland types and the variation frequency of hydrological conditions. Carbon-related enzyme activities, phenol oxidase and β-glucosidase, were much higher in the marsh than in the forest swamp. On the contrary, phenolic concentration was measured to be much higher in the latter. Soil enzyme activities and phenolic concentrations were found to vary between the two peatlands, much more remarkably than within the individual peatlands caused by the changes in the water level. The negative relationship or inconspicuous correlation between phenolics and phenol oxidase was found to vary with specific soil conditions. These results implied that the enzyme activities and phenolic concentrations might be related to the developmental stages or the types of wetlands more than to hydrological conditions.

Keywords hydrological condition enzyme phenolics peatlands North-east China

Corresponding Author(s): XIANG Wu,Email:bgegxw@yahoo.cn

Issue Date: 05 December 2010

Cite this article:

Xingting SUN,Wu XIANG,Ling HE, et al. Impacts of hydrological conditions on enzyme activities and phenolic concentrations in peatland soil: An experimental simulation[J]. Front Earth Sci Chin, 2010, 4(4): 463-470.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-010-0140-3
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2010/V4/I4/463

Tab.1 General features of the forest swamp and the marsh under different water level conditions

Fig.1 Impacts of dry and waterlogged conditions on the activities of (a, d) phenol oxidase, (b, e) β-glucosidase, and (c, f) acid phosphatase in the forest swamp (left) and in the marsh (right). H: high water level=0±1 cm; M: medium water level= 10±1 cm; L: lower water level= 18±1 cm

Fig.2 Impacts of dry and waterlogged conditions on the water soluble phenolic concentration in (a) the forest swamp and in (b) the marsh. H, M, L represent the high, mid and low water level conditions, respectively

Tab.2 Correlations coefficients (<0.05, = 6) between phenol oxidase and phenolics under different water level conditions in the marsh and in the forest swamp

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