MEASUREMENT OF ENZYMATIC-ACTIVITY IN DEEP MARINE-SEDIMENTS USING THE SEMIQUANTITATIVE APIZYM TEST SYSTEM

APIZym strips were used for measuring the activity of 19 enzymatic rea ctions in marine sediment samples from the continental slope of the Ce ltic Sea in 135... 1630 m depth. The activities of phosphatases were d ominant followed by esterases, peptidases, and glycosidases. The activ ities were influenced by the sediment depth within the cores and the d epth of the station. The results indicate that the APIZym system is ab le to resolve vertical stratification and spatial variability of enzym es possessing activity rates exceeding 10 nmol substrate h-1 cm-3 in s ediment but not of those with lower rates which for example would be f ound in deep-sea sediments