Penguin Guano Research Articles

Biomass and Enzyme Activity of Two Soil Transects at King George Island, Maritime Antarctica

Soil microbial properties were investigated to assess the potential of organic matter dynamics in mineral and ornithogenic soils in a cold climate. Microbial biomass, respiration, N-mineralization, and enzyme activities were measured along two catenary transects crossing penguin rookeries and seabird colonies. Ornithogenic excrements, total organic carbon (TOC), and phosphorus accumulation were major factors controlling microbial properties in Antarctic soils. Multivariate approaches (cluster and discriminant analysis) clearly distinguished the ornithogenic soils from the mineral soils based on their microbial characteristics. Microbial biomass, respiration, and N-mineralization were gradually inhibited by increasing P-inputs by penguins. The metabolic quotient (qCO2) was negatively correlated to P-content, whereas all other microbial properties (microbial biomass, respiration, N-mineralization, enzyme activities) followed the patterns of TOC. Urease, xylanase, phosphatase, and arylsulfatase activities were significantly favored by penguin and seabird excrements in the ornithogenic soils compared to the mineral soils. Microbial biomass-to-enzyme activity ratios were substantially higher at sites influenced by penguin guano than by other seabird excrement. We show that enzymes are active in antarctic soils, and that high levels of biomass-based specific activity in the ornithogenic soils, compared to those of mineral soils, result from continuous input of large quantities of enzyme-rich penguin guano.

SNOW ALGAE OF THE WINDMILL ISLANDS, CONTINENTAL ANTARCTICA: DESMOTETRA AUREOSPORA, SP. NOV. AND D. ANTARCTICA, COMB. NOV. (CHLOROPHYTA)

Two cryophilic Desmotetra species, D. aureospora, sp. nov., and D. antarctica (Fritsch) Ling appear to be unique to the southern hemisphere snow ecosystem, or at least to the Windmill Island region, Antarctica. They have not been encountered in previous extensive studies of the Arctic and northern alpine regions. Also unusual are the higher pH (6.8 and 7.8) and conductivities of 279 μS·cm−1 and 426 μS·cm−1 for habitat conditions of D. antarctica that can be attributed to the influence of penguin guano. Both species are characterized by cells enveloped in individual mucilage layers, 1–3 contractile vacuoles, and a cup‐shaped chloroplast containing a diffuse pyrenoid. The cells divided in three planes to form cubical loosely aggregated green cell packages embedded in mucilage. Vegetative cells of the two species cannot be distinguished with certainty; however, their zygospores are very different. Desmotetra aureospora has spherical, smooth‐walled, golden zygospores, whereas D. antarctica has pale, yellow green, aereolate zygospores. Mucilage stalk morphology of cells in stationary‐phase cultures can also be used to separate the two species. Zygospores of D. antarctica have previously been identified as the snow alga Trochiscia antarctica Fritsch. Both species are currently maintained in culture at the Australian Antarctic Division. The cultures did not grow at temperatures above 15° C. The two species are compared with the soil alga D. stigmatica (Deason) Deason et Floyd, the only other species in the genus, and also with Chlorosarcina stigmatica Deason strain T105. Results show that the three Desmotetra species form a natural group and that the absence or presence of a wall on the zoospore is of dubious value in classifications of green algal taxa above the species level.

Isolation of Bacillus thuringiensis from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica.

Sixty-two samples of Antarctic soils, mosses, penguin guano, algae and lichens were examined for the presence of aerobic endospore-forming bacteria; 36 samples (58%) yielded such organisms, and two samples from Edmonson Point (74 degrees 21'S 165 degrees 08'E) and one sample from Apostrophe Island (73 degrees 32'S 167 degrees 24'E), northern Victoria Land, yielded strains of Bacillus thuringiensis. Further isolations from two of the samples, appreciable variation in biotypes among the strains, failure of the strains to grow on routine B. thuringiensis media, and the fact that one of the sampling sites is very rarely visited by humans, suggest that the organisms were living in these soils rather than being chance contaminants. A representative strain, from Apostrophe Island, was identified as serovar pirenaica (H57).

Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/flame ionization detection analysis of three Antarctic soils

The research presented herein used pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to characterize potential parent organic materials for three Antarctic podzols and statistically compare the parent materials to soil organic matter (SOM) depth profiles. Pyrolysis-GC/flame ionization detection (FID) was used to quantify the relative percentage of a suite of biochemical compounds in the various horizons of three soils as well as potential parent organic materials consisting of mosses, algae and penguin guano. Pyrolysis-GC/FID was not used to classify and quantify all compounds in the soil pyrolysate, nor could it be used to describe the full nature of the soil organic material prior to pyrolysis. The method did, however, provide a powerful tool for correlating the various soils with parent organic materials and with each other in order to elucidate SOM transformation and translocation processes. The data suggested a general migration of polysaccharides and probably some amino carbohydrates in the Antarctic podzols and an impact of soil texture on preservation and transformation of the organic matter. Recent vegetation also appeared to affect the SOM in the topsoils to a greater extent than the organic matter derived from the parent materials of penguin guano.

Subantarctic Macquarie Island - a model ecosystem for studying animal-derived nitrogen sources using 15 N natural abundance

Plants collected from diverse sites on subantarctic Macquarie Island varied by up to 30‰ in their leaf δ15N values. 15N natural abundance of plants, soils, animal excrement and atmospheric ammonia suggest that the majority of nitrogen utilised by plants growing in the vicinity of animal colonies or burrows is animal-derived. Plants growing near scavengers and animal higher in the food chain had highly enriched δ15N values (mean = 12.9‰), reflecting the highly enriched signature of these animals' excrement, while plants growing near nesting penguins and albatross, which have an intermediate food chain position, had less enriched δ15N values (>6‰). Vegetation in areas affected by rabbits had lower δ15N values (mean = 1.2‰), while the highly depleted δ15N values (below -5‰) of plants at upland plateau sites inland of penguin colonies, suggested that a portion of their nitrogen is derived from ammonia (mean 15N =-10‰) lost during the degradation of penguin guano. Vegetation in a remote area had δ15N values near -2‰. These results contrast with arctic and subarctic studies that attribute large variations in plant 15N values to nitrogen partitioning in nitrogen-limited environments. Here, plant 15N reflects the 15N of the likely nitrogen sources utilised by plants.

SOIL ORGANIC MATTER OF SUGGESTED SPODIC HORIZONS IN RELIC ORNITHOGENIC SOILS OF COASTAL CONTINENTAL ANTARCTICA (CASEY STATION, WILKES LAND) IN COMPARISON WITH THAT OF SPODIC SOIL HORIZONS IN GERMANY

In Antarctica, ornithogenic soils from penguin guano play an important role in nutrient cycles in the ecosystem. Soil organic matter (SOM) degradation and translocation are the main determinants of these dynamics, of which podzolization is probably one, in ornithogenic soil. The purpose of this

14C Age Corrections in Antarctic Lake Sediments Inferred from Geochemistry

Sediment from Lake Boeckella, Antarctic Peninsula, is richer in Ca, Cd, Cu, P, Sr and Zn than that of six other lakes in the area. The elements originate from Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) guano on the lake shores. Changing Cu and P concentrations in the lake sediment are used as a proxy for penguin influence on the lake sediment from ca. 5850 bp to present. A 14C dating model suggests that the 14C correction factor in the lake sediments depends on the penguin proxy, the apparent age of the penguin guano and the amount of particulate carbon originating from the carbon-bearing shales in the watershed. Glacial meltwater and dissolved carbonates do not contain enough “old” carbon to contribute significantly to the correction factor. Ages corrected with the 14C dating model agree with the depth vs. age curve based on independently 14C-dated tephra horizons. The reservoir effect has been constant since at least 5800 bp, implying long-term stability of the currents and water masses in the area. The existing chronology for Lake Boeckella has been recalculated. The period of glacial advance, previously thought to have culminated at 5000 bp, is now thought to have culminated at 4700 bp; deglaciation of the area is thought to have occurred at 6300 bp instead of 8680 bp.

Spheniscidite, a new phosphate mineral from Elephant Island, British Antarctic Territory

AbstractSpheniscidite is a new phosphate mineral occurring in a soil profile in an area of nesting penguins on Elephant Island. It is the NH4-dominant analogue of leucophosphite and has the formula (NH4,K)(Fe3+,Al)2 (PO4)2(OH) · 2H2O. It is monoclinic, P21/n with unit cell parameters a = 9.75, b = 9.63, c = 9.70 Å, β = 102° 34′, and Z = 4. The strongest X-ray lines are 6.79(100), 5.99(90), 3.05(45), 7.62(40) Å. Spheniscidite is thought to have formed by the interaction of ammonium phosphate solutions from penguin guano with micaceous and chloritic minerals in the soil. The name is for Sphenisciformes, the order name for penguins, and has been approved by the IMA Commission on New Minerals and Mineral Names.

Ornithogenic soils of the Cape Bird adelie penguin rookeries, Antarctica

Summary. Chemical properties were measured on soil samples from five sites, differently influenced by penguin guano, from Cape Bird, Antarctica. Organic C and total N contents were high in the more recently influenced soils, but fell to low levels in soil from the longabandoned colony (radiocarbon age of penguin remains from the subsurface horizon, 4b, is 7070+180 years B.P.); total P was less affected. Uric acid and NH~ -N were the major N forms in soil from the occupied and recently-abandoned sites. Re-worked guano and the long-abandoned site contained very little uric acid, but high levels of NO~- - N compared with the other soils. A large proportion of most of these samples was soluble in H20. The major H20-soluble ions were NH~- and HPO4 z- in the most recent soils, and Na ÷ and, usually, C1- in the others. Mg 2+ was generally the major exchangeable cation. Results are discussed in relation to previous analyses of antarctic ornithogenic soils, and guano deposits and more normal soils from other parts of the world.

Ornithogenic soils of the Cape Bird adelie penguin rookeries, Antarctica

Ammonia evolution and urease, phosphatase and protease activities were measured after field incubations of soil from 5 sites, differently influenced by penguin guano, from Cape Bird, Antarctica. Rates of NH3 production were low considering the large amounts of free NH3 in these soils. Enzyme activities were higher than expected and, under optimum conditions of temperature, moisture and substrate availability, were sufficient to degrade rapidly the accumulated organic matter in these soils. Laboratory incubations confirmed these high levels of activity; they also showed high dehydrogenase, but not sulphatase, activity. The surface horizon from the site that received continuous additions of fresh penguin excreta had considerably more enzyme activity than the other samples. The optimum activity of phosphatase in this sample was at pH 9.5-10. These enzyme activities are compared with those of New Zealand topsoils, and considered in relation to activities likely to occur under field conditions. Recommendations are made for further biochemical studies at Cape Bird.

Influence of environmental factors on the decomposition of penguin guano in Antarctica

The microbial activity of guano samples from an age sequence of penguin rookery sites and adjacent areas at Cape Bird, Antarctica, was examined. Field moist and artificially moistened samples were buried at the sites (4°C) and duplicate samples incubated in the hut (10°C). Samples were then frozen and transported to New Zealand. Gas from above the frozen samples was analysed for CO2 using gas chromatography. The samples were thawed and further incubated at 25°C. Microbial activity in the guano depended on the degree of penguin influence and was low in the field moist samples from all sites incubated both ‘in situ’, in the hut and at 25°C. In contrast microbial activity was higher in samples with added water, and very high in guano incubated at 25°C. Under favourable moisture and temperature conditions there may be rapid breakdown of penguin guano, but averaged over a year the estimated annual loss of carbon is less than 0.5% of the total carbon present.

Electrical resistivity of frozen earth

Cook [1960] has described laboratory experiments on the RF electrical properties of synthetic salty ice and frozen earth and has commented on the scarcity of available data concerning the electrical properties of natural sea ice and permafrost with which to compare his results. During IGY the d-c resistivities of the ground upon which Scott Base (latitude 77°51′S) and HaJlett Station (latitude 72°9′S) are constructed were measured, and this note presents the d-c resistivities of the natural frozen ground and compares them with the RF resistivities of the synthetic soils used by Cook. Pram Point, Ross Island, on which Scott Base is built, consists of basaltic debris, with a good deal of clay material, overlying the basalt flows of the Hut Point Peninsula. Except for the top 5 to 10 cm, which thaws for a very short period during the summer months, the ground is permanently frozen. Hallett Station lies on the gravel spit attached to Cape Hallett, and in at least the upper 2 meters of this soil there is some penguin guano. Resistivities measured at these bases during January 1958 by the standard d-c method (commutated) using the Wenner electrode configuration are shown in Figure 1. At Scott Base two expanding electrode profiles were measured in different areas on Pram Point. At Hallett Station only one locality was occupied.