CHAPTER 6
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

 Field and laboratory studies were conducted to examine the influences of nutrient

loading, vegetative habitat, and simulated drought conditions on microbial enzyme

activities in the Everglades. A summary of results as they relate to the study objectives is

presented below.



 1) Develop an appropriate experimental method for performing enzyme

 assays in wetland systems.

 The investigation of the effects of varying substrate concentrations on measured

enzyme activity was deemed important in developing assays that are accurate in

estimating in situ activities. The inclusion of kinetic activity readings over time was

found to be significant in determining the validity of measured enzyme activities and

provided a method of discarding outlying values. The importance of incubation time was

found to vary among substrate concentrations with a 45 minute incubation time deemed

adequate in this study. Optimum substrate concentrations were determined to be 60 [aM,

50 lM, 100 [iM, and 300taM for cellobiohydrolase, phosphatase, glucosidase, and leucine

aminopeptidase, respectively. These substrate concentrations exhibited a linear

relationship over time in both enriched and reference P sediments and were utilized for

further experimentation.