## 1 Introduction  
Microbial extracellular enzyme activity controls decomposition of soil organic matter [1]. Soil microorganisms produce a suite of extracellular enzymes to degrade organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) substrates (including \(\alpha\)-glucosidase, \(\beta\)-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, xylosidase, phenol oxidase, peroxidase, and N-acetyl glucosamine), to liberate energy and key nutrients (e.g., N, phosphorus, sulfur) from the soil organic matter matrix [2, 3]. This has been shown to be particularly important in wetland ecosystems where saturated soils can reduce oxidative and hydrolytic enzyme activity [4, 5], resulting in preservation of organic matter in soils. Of particular interest, in terms of regulation of microbial breakdown of soil organic C (SOC), is the influence of anaerobic on extracellular enzyme production. [PERSON] et al. [5] found that the activity of phenol oxidase, an enzyme which catalyzes the breakdown of phenolic and lignin compounds via oxygen, is suppressed under oxygen-free conditions, along with that of hydrolytic enzymes (because of inhibition due to the buildup of phenolic compounds). Importantly though, recent evidence suggestsfreshwater wetlands with fluctuating water tables [6] may remain oxygenated and support microbial activity that has previously been thought to only occur under strictly anaerobic soil conditions [7; 8; 9]. Wetland drainage is common practice in coastal regions of the southeastern US, particularly for the purpose of management for pine silviculture [10]. Drainage of wetlands reduces water table depth and increases soil aeration, which typically results in enhanced SOC decomposition [11; 12], although this is not always the case [13; 14; 15]. At the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in coastal North Carolina, the high water table in these predominantly freshwater forested wetland has preserved organic matter in a less decomposed state compared to an adjacent drained wetland site [16]. Thus, it would be expected that drainage of wetlands influences microbial enzyme activity as it is a key rate limiting step to decomposition of soil organic matter [17]. The response of enzyme activity to drainage has been shown to depend on numerous environmental factors such as the concentration of phenolic and humic compounds, soil pH, O\({}_{2}\) levels, and the type of enzyme measured [4; 5; 15; 18; 19; 20; 21]. For instance, enzyme activity has been shown to: decrease in the presence of phenolic and humic compounds [19; 20], increase with increasing soil pH [15] and increase with increasing O\({}_{2}\) levels (particularly oxidative enzymes) [5]. Particularly, phenol oxidase activity has been shown to not change [4] or decrease [15], while hydrolytic enzymes will typically increase in response to drainage. This suggests that the microbial response to drainage is related to site specific characteristics and the type of enzyme measured [5; 15]. Surface spatial heterogeneity may also play an important role in microbial processes in both natural and drained wetland sites. Microsites unique to wetlands (hummock-hollow microtopography) are influential on soil C and nutrient cycles, microbial community structure and function, and belowground plant processes [6; 16; 22; 23; 24]. Hummocks in non-tidal freshwater wetlands (such as those in this study) tend to have greater C and nutrient cycling rates [6; 16], respiration rates [25], and are the primary location of tree growth and fine-root biomass compared to hollows [24; 26; 27]. Below the surface organic horizons though, organic and mineral soils from both hummocks and hollows exhibit similar saturation levels and have similar bulk SOC isotopic signatures and MBC [16]), indicating that these subsurface horizons may not differ in C quality or microbial activity. Managed pine plantations on drained wetland sites also exhibit a \"man-made\" form of microtopography which has also been shown to be important for both C cycling and storage [28; 29] and N cycling and transformations [30].