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How do enzymes catalysing soil nitrogen transformations respond to changing temperatures?

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Abstract

Biological processes in soils are regulated in part by soil temperature, and there is currently considerable interest in obtaining robust information on the temperature sensitivity of carbon cycling process. However, very little comparable information exists on the temperature regulation of specific nitrogen cycling processes. This paper addresses this problem by measuring the temperature sensitivity of nitrogen cycling enzymes in soil. A grassland soil was incubated over a range of temperatures (−2 to 21 °C) reflecting 99 % of the soil temperature range during the previous 50 years at the site. After 7 and 14 days of incubation, potential activities of protease, amidase and urease were determined. Activities of protease and urease were positively related to temperature (activation energy; E a = 49.7 and 73.4 kJ mol−1, respectively, and Q 10 = 2.97 and 2.78, respectively). By contrast, amidase activity was relatively insensitive to temperature, but the activity was significantly increased after the addition of glucose. This indicated that there was a stoichiometric imbalance with amidase activity only being triggered when there was a supply of exogenous carbon. Thus, carbon supply was a greater constraint to amidase activity than temperature was in this particular soil.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by The James Hutton Institute joint Studentship programme and the University of Stirling. The James Hutton Institute receives funding from the Scottish Government.

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Author notes

  1. Philip A. Wookey

    Present address: Department of Geography, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA, UK

    Fiona C. Fraser & Paul D. Hallett

  2. Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK

    Philip A. Wookey

  3. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, UK

    Iain P. Hartley

  4. School of Life Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK

    David W. Hopkins

Authors
  1. Fiona C. Fraser
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  2. Paul D. Hallett
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  3. Philip A. Wookey
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  4. Iain P. Hartley
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  5. David W. Hopkins
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Correspondence to David W. Hopkins.

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Fraser, F.C., Hallett, P.D., Wookey, P.A. et al. How do enzymes catalysing soil nitrogen transformations respond to changing temperatures?. Biol Fertil Soils 49, 99–103 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0722-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-012-0722-1

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