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Résumé :
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Many models that describe the turnover of the microbial biomass in soil use either first order kinetics where the rate of turnover is directly proportional to the microbial mass, or a variant of the Michaelis-Menten law that describes enzyme kinetics. To account for the different rates of microbial turnover observed at different times after the addition of substrate, some authors have suggested the existence of more than one pool of biomass. Each pool obeys the same kinetic law but with a different rate. In other experiments a disproportionately large increase in the turnover of native organisms has been observed relative to the amount of fresh substrate added. A change in the kinetic law describing the turnover of organisms can account for these observations and yet retain the simplicity of a single pool of micro-organisms. However where multiple pools of organisms are justified a mixed kinetic law with both first and second order terms may be more appropriate; in other words one pool of micro-organisms but two rate constants.
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