Ecoenzymatic stoichiometry of stream sediments with comparison to terrestrial soils

Abstract

The kinetics and elemental composition of cellular units that mediate production and respiration are the basis for the metabolic and stoichiometric theories of ecological organization. This theoretical framework extends to the activities of microbial enzymes released into the environment (ecoenzymes) that mediate the release of assimilable substrate from detrital organic matter. In this paper, we analyze the stoichiometry of ecoenzymatic activities in the surface sediments of lotic ecosystems and compare those results to the stoichiometry observed in terrestrial soils. We relate these ecoenzymatic ratios to energy and nutrient availability in the environment as well as microbial elemental content and growth efficiency. The data, collected by US Environmental Protection Agency, include the potential activities of 11 enzymes for 2,200 samples collected across the US, along with analyses of sediment C, N and P content. On average, ecoenzymatic activities in stream sediments are 2–5 times greater per gC than those of terrestrial soils. Ecoenzymatic ratios of C, N and P acquisition activities support elemental analyses showing that microbial metabolism is more likely to be C-limited than N or P-limited compared to terrestrial soils. Ratios of hydrolytic to oxidative activities indicate that sediment organic matter is more labile than soil organic matter and N acquisition is less dependent on humic oxidation. The mean activity ratios of glycosidases and aminopeptidases reflect the environmental abundance of their respective substrates. For both freshwater sediments and terrestrial soils, the mean C:nutrient ratio of microbial biomass normalized to growth efficiency approximates the mean ecoenzymatic C:nutrient activity ratios normalized to environmental C:nutrient abundance. This relationship defines a condition for biogeochemical equilibrium consistent with stoichiometric and metabolic theory.