Summary
Bacteria were counted (direct counts using acridine orange) in soil samples from 12 sites on Marion Island (subantarctic). Numbers, cell types and cell volumes all varied widely between sites; numbers from 7 to 151×108 cm-3 and from 5 to 1300 g-1 oven-dry soil (o.d.s.), volumes from 63 to 825 μ3 cm-3 and from 61 to 6570 μm3 g-1 o.d.s. Five main cell shapes were distinguished, and each divided into up to 4 size-classes. Numbers were related negatively to climatic severity and positively to soil nutrient concentrations, vertebrate manuring, and availability of organic substrates. Volumes were not markedly related to climate; the main division was simply between edaphically rich and poor sites. Manured sites and high-altitude sites both had characteristic cell-types, and there was a strong altitudinal sequence of cell sizes among fjaeldmarks. Among the manured sites, seal wallows and albatross nest differed from gull- or penguin-manured sites under Cotula plumosa, especially in the proportions of different cell types and sizes. One sample, from a high-altitude fjaeldmark, was totally unlike all others. It was excluded from all general comparisons but it is suggested that this site deserves further study. The combination of numbers, volumes, cell types and sizes, and fluorescence characteristics are interpreted as indicators of contrasting strategies for growth and reproduction, especially high or low “standing crop” vs high or low turnover, and these strategies related to site conditions.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Allison LE (1965) Organic carbon. In: Black CJ (ed) Methods of soil analysis, vol 2. American Society of Agronomy USA, pp 1367–1378
Boyd WL, Rothenberg I, Boyd JM (1970) Soil micro-organisms at Paradise Harbour, Antarctica. Ecology 51:1040–1045
French DD, Smith VR (1985) A comparison between Northern and Southern Hemisphere tundras and related ecosystems. Polar Biol 5:5–21
Gremmen NJM (1981) The vegetation of the Subantarctic islands Marion and Prince Edward. W Junk, The Hague, 149 pp
Hobbie JE, Daley RJ, Jasper S (1977) Use of Nuclepore filters for counting bacteria for fluorescence microscopy. Appl Environ Microbiol 33:1225–1228
Holding AJ (1981) The microflora of tundra. In: Bliss LC, Heal OW, Moore JJ (eds) Tundra ecosystems: a comparative analysis. CUP, Cambridge, pp 561–586
Holding AJ, Collins VG, French DD, D'Sylva BT, Bater JH (1974) Relation between viable bacterial counts and site characteristics in tundra. In: Holding AJ, Heal OW, Maclean SF Jr, Flanagan PW (eds) Soil organisms and decomposition in Tundra. Tundra Biome Steering Committee, Stockholm, pp 49–64
Jenkinson DS, Powlson DS, Wedderburn RW (1976) The effects of biocidal treatments on metabolism in soil. III. The relationship between soil biovolume, measured by optical microscopy, and the flush of decomposition caused by fumigation. Soil Biol Biochem 8:189–202
Langenegger O, Verwoerd WJ (1971) Topographic survey. In: Zinderen Bakker EM van, Winterbottom JM, Dyer RA (eds) Marion and Prince Edward Islands. Balkema, Cape Town, pp 301–303
Lundgren B (1984) Size classification of soil bacteria: effects on microscopically estimated biovolume. Soil Biol Biochem 16:282–284
Mackereth FJH, Heron J, Talling JF (1978) Water analysis: some methods for limnologists. FBA Scientific Publications
Parinkina OM (1974) Bacterial production in tundra soils. In: Holding AJ, Heal OW, Maclean SF Jr, Flanagan PW (eds) Soil organisms and decomposition in Tundra. Tundra Biome Steering Committee, Stockholm, pp 65–78
Ramsay AJ (1983) Bacterial biomass in ornithogenic soils of Antarctica. Polar Biol 1:221–225
Rigler R (1966) Microfluorometric characterization of intracellular nucleic acids and nucleoprotein by acridine orange. Acta Physiol Scand 67 (Suppl 267):1–122
Roser DJ (1980) Ethidium bromide: a general purpose fluorescent stain for nucleic acid in bacteria and eucaryotes and its use in microbial ecology studies. Soil Biol Biochem 12:329–336
Smith VR (1979) Evaluation of a resin-bag procedure for determining plant-available P in organic volcanic soils. Plant and Soil 53:245–249
Smith VR, Hilmer T (1984) Bacterial numbers in the freshwater bodies of a subantarctic island. S Afr J Antarct Res 14 (in press)
Smith VR, Steyn MG (1982) Soil microbial counts in relation to site characteristics at a subantarctic island. Microbiol Ecol 8:253–266
Solorzano L (1969) Determination of ammonia in natural waters by the phenol-hypochlorite method. Limnol Oceanogr 14:799–801
Steyn MG, Smith VR (1981) Microbial populations in Marion Island soils. S Afr J Antarct Res 10/11:14–18
Swift MJ, Heal OW, Anderson JM (1979) Decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. Studies in ecology, vol 5. Blackwell, Oxford
Widden P (1977) Microbiology and decomposition on Truelove Lowland. In: Bliss LC (ed) Truelove Lowland, Devon Island, Canada: a high arctic ecosystem. University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, Alberta, pp 505–530
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
French, D.D., Smith, V.R. Bacterial populations in soils of a subantarctic island. Polar Biol 6, 75–82 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00258256
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00258256