Microbial mineralization processes in Antarctic soils and on plant material

Soil samples and different plant material from the maritime and continental Antarctic were analyzed for their actual and potential respiration by different methods: total CO2-evolution, biological oxygen demand and use of 14C-labeled glucose which may serve as a model for dissolved organic carbohydrates. Since these methods are argued to indicate the mineralization of different fractions of the total organic material by different actual populations, a comparison between the data from these techniques is carried out with regard to their contributions of the total organic matter debris in these environments. The part of respired material calculated from 14C-studies may contribute to nearly 90% of the metabolized material. Results show that the individual fractions differ significantly with respect to the parent material. There are several aspects which have to be taken into account when looking at these data: the original content of water; the contents of dissolved and particulate carbohydrates; and, other edaphic factors. Of special interest is the overall respiration of plant material (mainly lichens) which is strongly influenced by the bacterial respiration of dissolved carbohydrates, probably by ongrowing organisms due to their efficiency in using dissolved organic matter. In terms of respiratory activity, the (bacterial) respiration of glucose may contribute to more than 50% of the total CO2-evolution. This influences considerably the modeling of overall respiration of plant material in those environments where close interactions between different parts of the system are very important for their life strategy. Further, the bacterial part may be an overlooked part of metabolic rates in Antarctic lichens