How understory vegetation affects the catalytic properties of soil extracellular hydrolases in a Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) forest

Abstract To study how the understory vegetation influences the catalytic properties of extracellular hydrolases, we established a paired treatment experiment, with understory vegetation and litter removed from one treatment (understory removal, UR) and litter removed and the understory vegetation left intact in the other (control, CK), in a subtropical Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata) plantation. We used fluorescent substrates to determine the maximum velocity (Vmax), the affinity of hydrolases to the substrates (Km), and the catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km) of three extracellular hydrolases (β-1,4-glucosidase (βG), β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) and acid phosphatase (AP)). We found that the Vmax values for βG and NAG were 23.0% and 16.8% lower, respectively, in the UR treatment than in the CK treatment, and that the Vmax for AP was similar in both treatments. The Km and Vmax/Km for all the three hydrolases remained steady after the understory vegetation was removed. The soil C and N contents and the bacterial and fungal biomass were generally positively correlated with the Vmax values. Thus, understory vegetation had more influence on the activities (Vmax) than on the substrate affinities of extracellular hydrolases (Km). Microbes tended to concentrate on maintaining the catalytic efficiency when the SOC contents were between 15.8 and 20.3 g kg−1 when the understory vegetation was removed from a subtropical Chinese fir forest, and the catalytic efficiency could decrease under extremely low soil C contents. We suggest that understory vegetation should be maintained to sustain the potential microbial activity in subtropical Chinese fir forests.

• Publication year

  2019

• Venue

  European journal of soil biology

• Publication date

  Unknown publication date

• Fields of study

  Chemistry, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/J.EJSOBI.2018.11.004
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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