Organic carbon and microbial biomass in a raised beach deposit under terrestrial vegetation in the High Arctic, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

Polar research

Yasuyuki Shibata¹  Shinpei Yoshitake²  Takayuki Nakatsubo³  Masao Uchida⁵  Hiroshi Koizumi⁵  Masaki Uchida⁶ 

[1] NIES-TERRA AMS Facility, Environmental Chemistry Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba 305-8506, Japan;Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8521, Japan;Graduate School of Biosphere Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8521, JapanCorrespondence;Institute for Basin Ecosystem Studies, Gifu University, Gifu 501-1193, Japan;Institute of Oceanographic Research for Global Changes, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan;National Institute of Polar Research, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo 173-8515, Japan

关键词: ATP;    High Arctic;    microbial biomass;    organic carbon;    raised beach deposits;    Svalbard.;   

DOI  :  10.1111/j.1751-8369.2008.00037.x

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: Co-Action Publishing

【 摘 要 】

Raised beach deposits are widespread on the north-western coast of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. To elucidate the importance of these deposits in an ecosystem carbon cycle, we measured the concentrations of organic carbon and adenosine 5-triphosphate (ATP; an index of living microbial biomass) in a raised beach deposit found under terrestrial vegetation in Ny-Ålesund. A shell in the deposit found at a depth of ca. 20 cm below the ground surface had a (not calibrated) 14C age of 11080 140 yr BP, whereas soil organic carbon in the same deposit showed an older 14C age (22380 90 yr BP). Organic carbon concentration in the layer of 20–40 cm belowground was about 1–2%, which was comparable to those in shallower mineral soil layers. Results of ATP analyses suggested that low but non-negligible amounts of microorganisms existed in the deposit. The proportion of biomass carbon to soil organic carbon tended to decrease with increasing depth, suggesting that organic carbon in the deep layer was less available to microorgan...

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC