Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Soil Lysimeter Excavation for Coupled Hydrological, Geochemical, and Microbiological Investigations
Published on: September 11, 2016
Variation in microbial activity in histosols and its relationship to soil moisture
1Agricultural Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Belle Glade, Florida 33430.
Abstract:
Microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity, carbon metabolism, and aerobic bacterial populations were examined in cropped and fallow Pahokee muck (a lithic medisaprist) of the Florida Everglades. Dehydrogenase activity was two- to sevenfold greater in soil cropped to St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt) Kuntz) compared with uncropped soil, whereas biomass ranged from equivalence in the two soils to a threefold stimulation in the cropped soil. Biomass in soil cropped to sugarcane (Saccharum spp. L) approximated that from the grass field, whereas dehydrogenase activities of the cane soil were nearly equivalent to those of the fallow soil. Microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity, aerobic bacterial populations, and salicylate oxidation rates all correlated with soil moisture levels. These data indicate that within the moisture ranges detected in the surface soils, increased moisture stimulated microbial activity, whereas within the soil profile where moisture ranges reached saturation, increased moisture inhibited aerobic activities and stimulated anaerobic processes.
Related Concept Videos
Soil Microbial Ecology
Factors Influencing Microbial Growth: Osmolarity
Microenvironments
Marine Microbial Ecology
Microbial Mats
Introduction to Microbial Ecology

