Patterns of extracellular enzyme activities in littoral sediments of Lake Gooimeer, The Netherlands
H.T.S Boschker,
T.E Cappenberg,
Corresponding Author
H.T.S Boschker
Centre for Limnology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Rijksstraatweg 6, 3631 AC Nieuwersluis, The Netherlands
*Corresponding author. Present address: Centre for Estuarine and Coastal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Postbus 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorT.E Cappenberg
Centre for Estuarine and Coastal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Postbus 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands
Search for more papers by this authorH.T.S Boschker,
T.E Cappenberg,
Corresponding Author
H.T.S Boschker
Centre for Limnology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Rijksstraatweg 6, 3631 AC Nieuwersluis, The Netherlands
*Corresponding author. Present address: Centre for Estuarine and Coastal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Postbus 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorT.E Cappenberg
Centre for Estuarine and Coastal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Postbus 140, 4400 AC Yerseke, The Netherlands
Search for more papers by this authorPublication number 2323 of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Centre for Limnology.
Abstract
The seasonal variation in enzymatic activities against protein and several polysaccharides together with esterase as a measure of general hydrolytic activity was studied in a transect of sediments through the littoral zone of Lake Gooimeer, The Netherlands. Absolute activities showed a linear relation with organic matter content of the sediments. Patterns of activities were different between inside and outside a reed bed. Inside, polysaccharide hydrolyzing activities dominated, whereas protein related activity was relatively more important outside the bed. This pattern of activities was related to the polymeric composition of the dominant sources of organic matter as determined in a previous study, which changed from a macrophyte dominance to an algal or cyanobacterial dominated system going from inside to outside the reed bed. This suggests that patterns of enzyme activities can be used as a new approach to infer available sources of organic matter in natural systems.
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