Ecoenzymatic Stoichiometry in Relation to Productivity for Freshwater Biofilm and Plankton Communities

The degradation of detrital organic matter and assimilation of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) by heterotrophic microbial communities is mediated by enzymes released into the environment (ecoenzymes). For the attached microbial communities of soils and freshwater sediments, the activities of beta-glucosidase, beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase, leucine aminopeptidase, and phosphatase show consistent stoichiometric patterns. To determine whether similar constraints apply to planktonic communities, we assembled data from nine studies that include measurements of these enzyme activities along with microbial productivity. By normalizing enzyme activity to productivity, we directly compared the ecoenzymatic stoichiometry of aquatic biofilm and bacterioplankton communities. The relationships between beta-glucosidase and alpha-glucosidase and beta-glucosidase and beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase were statistically indistinguishable for the two community types, while the relationships between beta-glucosidase and phosphatase and beta-glucosidase and leucine aminopeptidase significantly differed. For beta-glucosidase vs. phosphatase, the differences in slope (biofilm 0.65, plankton 1.05) corresponded with differences in the mean elemental C:P ratio of microbial biomass (60 and 106, respectively). For (beta-glucosidase vs. leucine aminopeptidase, differences in slope (0.80 and 1.02) did not correspond to differences in the mean elemental C:N of biomass (8.6 and 6.6). beta-N-Acetylglucosaminidase activity in biofilms was significantly greater than that of plankton, suggesting that aminosaccharides were a relatively more important N source for biofilms, perhaps because fungi are more abundant. The slopes of beta-glucosidase vs. (beta-N-acetylglucosaminidase + leucine aminopeptidase) regressions (biofilm 1.07, plankton 0.94) corresponded more closely to the estimated difference in mean biomass C:N. Despite major differences in physical structure and trophic organization, biofilm and plankton communities have similar ecoenzymatic stoichiometry in relation to productivity and biomass composition. These relationships can be integrated into the stoichiometric and metabolic theories of ecology and used to analyze community metabolism in relation to resource constraints.