Potential enzyme activities altered by increased nutrient availability in Arctic tundra soils

The Arctic tundra is a biome affected most by global warming predicted in the future. Such warming is expected to increase nutrient availability to soil microbes which, in turn, may accelerate soil organic matter decomposition. We investigated how extra-cellular enzyme activities in soils were affected by increasing nutrient availability in an Arctic tundra ecosystem. Specifically, we measured potential activities of seven enzymes at three profiles (organic, organic/mineral interface, and mineral) of soils which had been fertilized in long- (23 years) and short-terms (six years), assayed at four temperatures. The long-term site had a high fertilization treatment (10g N m^-2 year^-1 and 5g P m^-2 year^-1) and control, and the short-term site had a low fertilization treatment (5g N m^-2 year^-1 and 2.5g P m^-2 year^-1) in addition to the high fertilization treatment and control. The fertilization treatments significantly altered most of the enzyme activities in both sites. The fertilization treatments increased activities of enzymes hydrolyzing products for C and nitrogen N sources, but decreased phosphatase activities. Such alterations were most pronounced in the organic soils. The fertilization treatments also increased ratios of total enzyme activities involved in hydrolysis for C products to those for N products. This result is consistent with an observation that long-term N and P fertilization decreased soil organic C in the same tundra ecosystem. Altered enzymatic stoichiometry with increased nutrient availability should be considered when modeling biogeochemical cycles in Arctic tundra ecosystems in response to warming predicted in the future.