Microbial responses to carbon and nitrogen supplementation i
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TitleMicrobial responses to carbon and nitrogen supplementation in an Antarctic dry valley soilAbstractThe soils of the McMurdo Dry Valleys are exposed to extremely dry and cold conditions. Nevertheless, they contain active biological communities that contribute to the biogeochemical processes. We have used ester-linked fatty acid (ELFA) analysis to investigate the effects of additions of carbon and nitrogen in glucose and ammonium chloride, respectively, on the soil microbial community in a field experiment lasting three years in the Garwood Valley. In the control treatment, the total ELFA concentration was small by comparison with temperate soils, but very large when expressed relative to the soil organic carbon concentration, indicating efficient conversion of soil organic carbon into microbial biomass and rapid turnover of soil organic carbon. The ELFA concentrations increased significantly in response to carbon additions, indicating that carbon supply was the main constraint to microbial activity. The large ELFA concentrations relative to soil organic carbon and the increases in ELFA response to organic carbon addition are both interpreted as evidence for the soil microbial community containing organisms with efficient scavenging mechanisms for carbon. The diversity of the ELFA profiles declined in response to organic carbon addition, suggesting the responses were driven by a portion of the community increasing in dominance whilst others declined. â"' 2012 Antarctic Science Ltd.AcknowledgementsWe are grateful to Antarctica New Zealand for fieldwork and logistic support in the 2004--05 and 2005--06 field seasons. DWH also wishes to acknowledge additional support from the Royal Society (of London), the TransAntarctic Association, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, and the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). This paper is an output from NERC grant (NE/D00893X/1; Biodiversity in Antarctic Soils). PMN acknowledges support from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (New Zealand). We also wish to thank Sandra Caul and Charlie Scrimgeour at SCRI for technical support and advice, and David Wardle for helpful discussions during the design of the field experiment. SCRI is supported in part by the Scottish Government. The constructive comments of the reviewers are also gratefully acknowledged.
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1st AuthorDennis, P.AuthorDennis, P.Sparrow, A.Gregorich, E.Novis, P.Elberling, B.Greenfield, L.Hopkins, D.Year2013JournalAntarctic ScienceVolume25Number1Pages55-61DOI10.1017/S0954102012000855URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....7194618f5733c68a6596e0093Keywordscarbonchlorideconcentration (composition)dominanceesterfatty acidglucosemicrobial activitynitrogenphysiological responsesoil microorganismsoil organic mattersubstrate, AntarcticaEast AntarcticaGarwood ValleyMcMurdo Dry Valleys, rank5Author Keywordsester-linked fatty acidsexperimentationGarwood ValleyMcMurdo Dry Valleysmicro-organismssubstrate response
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TypeArticleCitationDennis, P., Sparrow, A., Gregorich, E., Novis, P., Elberling, B., Greenfield, L. and Hopkins, D. (2013). Microbial responses to carbon and nitrogen supplementation in an Antarctic dry valley soil. Antarctic Science, 25(1): 55-61 IdentifierDennis2013Relevancerank5
Hopkins, D., Microbial responses to carbon and nitrogen supplementation i , [Dennis2013]. Antarctica NZ, accessed 16/02/2025, https://adam.antarcticanz.govt.nz/nodes/view/63470, 10.1017/S0954102012000855