caa a22 4500 469096411 CHVBK 20180323133032.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e19921101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF00317365 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF00317365 Soil macrofauna and nitrogen on a sub-Antarctic island [Elektronische Daten] [V. Smith, Marianna Steenkamp] Summary: The densities, diets and habitat preferences of the soil macrofaunal species on sub-Antarctic Marion Island (47°S, 38°E) are described. Their role in N cycling on the island is assessed, using a mire-grassland community as an example. Primary production on the island is high and this leads to a substantial annual requirement of nutrients by the vegetation. This requirement must almost wholly be met by mineralization of nutrient reserves in the organic matter. Rates of peat nitrogen mineralization mediated by microorganisms alone are much too low to account for rates of N uptake by the vegetation. Although soil macroinvertebrates, and bacteria represent a very small fraction of the total N pool, their interaction accounts for most of the peat N mineralization, as indicated by the amounts of inorganic N released into solution in microcosms. Extrapolation of the microcosm results shows that the soil macrofauna (mainly earthworms) stimulate the release of enough N from the mire-grassland peat to account for maximum N mineralization rates calculated from temporal changes in peat inorganic N levels and plant uptake during the most active part of the growing season. Considering that large numbers of mesoand microinvertebrates occur and must also contribute to nutrient mineralization, the soil faunal component is clearly of crucial importance to nutrient cycling on Marion Island. This is probably true of all sub-Antarctic islands. Springer-Verlag, 1992 Sub-antarctic nationallicence Soil fauna nationallicence Nutrient cycling nationallicence Peat nationallicence Nitrogen mineralization nationallicence Smith V. Department of Botany and Genetics, University of the Orange Free State, 9301, Bloemfontein, South Africa aut Steenkamp Marianna Department of Botany and Genetics, University of the Orange Free State, 9301, Bloemfontein, South Africa aut Oecologia Springer-Verlag 92/2(1992-11-01), 201-206 0029-8549 92:2<201 1992 92 442 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317365 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317365 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Smith V. Department of Botany and Genetics, University of the Orange Free State, 9301, Bloemfontein, South Africa aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Steenkamp Marianna Department of Botany and Genetics, University of the Orange Free State, 9301, Bloemfontein, South Africa aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Oecologia Springer-Verlag 92/2(1992-11-01), 201-206 0029-8549 92:2<201 1992 92 442 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer