Enzyme activities along a climatic transect in the Judean Desert

Soil enzymes have an important influence on nutrient cycling. We examined spatial and temporal patterns in dehydrogenase, arylsulfatase, alkaline and acid phosphatase activities, and their relationships with organic carbon and microbial biomass nitrogen at three sites in Israel representing different climatic regions: Mediterranean (humid), mildly arid and arid. The sites were selected along a climatic transect from the Judean Mountains in the west to the Dead Sea in the east of Israel. With increasing aridity, soil organic carbon, soil microbial biomass nitrogen, dehydrogenase, phosphatase and different pools of arylsulfatase activities decreased significantly. A sharp change in enzyme activities existed between 260- and 120-mm mean annual rainfall. The arylsulfatase activity of the microbial biomass in the 0–2- and 5–10-cm soil layers usually accounted for more than 50% of the total activity, and the fraction of total activity in the 0–2-cm soil layer of the arid sites was significantly greater than that of the humid site. Dehydrogenase and total and microbial biomass arylsulfatase activities were sensitive indicators of the climatic change along the transect. At the humid and mildly arid sites, the activities of dehydrogenase were less in the winter than in the summer and spring, whereas total and microbial biomass arylsulfatase activities were less in both summer and winter. At the arid site, lower values were observed in the summer at 0–2-cm soil depth. At all sites, lower alkaline phosphatase activities at 0–2 cm were observed in the summer, but there were no significant seasonal differences in acid phosphatase activities. These different seasonal patterns of enzyme activities are attributed to the enzyme source, and specific seasonal soil moisture and temperature conditions at the studied sites. The low dehydrogenase and microbial biomass arylsulfatase activities in the winter at the humid and mildly arid sites are explained by the cold and wet soil conditions, and the low enzyme activity in the summer at the arid site is attributed to the dry and hot soil conditions.