RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHOSPHATASE ACTIVE BACTERIA AND PHOSPHATASE-ACTIVITIES IN FOREST SOILS

Acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase active colonies of bacteria, isolated from forest soils, were stained. The activity of acid and al kaline phosphatase and other soil properties (the number of aerobic ba cteria, basal respiration, the level of ammonification, the number of bacteria active in ammonification, the level of nitrification, the num ber of micromycetes) were compared with the number of bacteria belongi ng to the genus Micrococcus. Soil samples were taken from the followin g horizons: F-AO1 (fermentative), H-AO2 (humic), and A (basic). The so il samples were taken from beneath forest stands in the Izera Mountain s (North Bohemia, Czech Republic). The number of acid phosphatase acti ve colonies correlated positively with the number of alkaline phosphat ase active colonies in the F-AO1 horizon, and there was a high, positi ve correlation between the former and the level of ammonification in t he H-AO2 horizon. The number of alkaline phosphatase active colonies c orrelated positively with organic carbon, the number of ammonification bacteria, and the number of micromycetes in the H-AO2 horizon. The A horizon was almost biologically inactive. Neither acid nor alkaline ph osphatase activities correlated positively with the number of phosphat ase active colonies of bacteria.