Biocrusts mediate a new mechanism for land degradation under a changing climate

Phillips, Michala L.; McNellis, Brandon E.; Howell, Armin J.; Lauria, Cara M.; Belnap, Jayne; Reed, Sasha C.

doi:10.1038/s41558-021-01249-6

Cited by 46 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 57 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Climate change, human land-use impacts, and the spread of invasive plants are commonly noted stressors that contribute to ongoing dryland degradation ( 3 – 6 ). Once degraded, drylands can undergo loss of vegetation, soil erosion, and reduction of soil water-holding capacity and fertility, which can ultimately result in the ecosystem moving toward an alternate steady state characterized by reduced ecosystem services ( 1 , 3 – 5 , 7 – 9 ). Ecological theory on alternative steady states suggest that either long-term environmental drivers (e.g., increase in temperature and change in precipitation) and/or short-term trigger disturbances (e.g., fire, population outbreak of nuisance species, and trampling from humans or livestock) can result in the restructuring of ecosystems, which can ultimately push a system across a critical tipping point ( 8 – 12 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to their important role in dryland ecosystems globally, biological soil crust (biocrust) cover is commonly used to distinguish between two alternative steady states: an intact state with stable soils and productive vegetated states or a degraded state with reduced productivity and accelerated erosion ( 1 , 7 , 9 , 13 ). In high biocrust cover states, biocrusts can cover up to 70% of the ground surface and are known to be vital yet vulnerable members of the ecosystem ( 1 , 13 – 16 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lichen genus Collema is especially important for contributing fixed nitrogen (N) to the soil environment, especially in dryland systems that are often N-limited ecosystems ( 17 , 18 ). However, these soil surface communities are also highly sensitive to physical disturbance and trampling ( 7 ), with limited ability to return to a predisturbance state ( 9 , 13 , 16 ) and cascading feedback to overall ecosystem structure and function ( 19 ). In addition to physical disturbance, experimental studies suggest that biocrusts are also sensitive to variations in climate and exhibit declines in late-successional community organisms (lichens and mosses) with increases in temperature or altered precipitation patterns ( 7 , 20 – 23 ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to physical disturbance, experimental studies suggest that biocrusts are also sensitive to variations in climate and exhibit declines in late-successional community organisms (lichens and mosses) with increases in temperature or altered precipitation patterns ( 7 , 20 – 23 ). Warming experiments in the drylands of Spain found that increasing temperatures can reduce lichen species cover and richness ( 20 – 22 ), while moss species have shown sensitivity to altered precipitation patterns on the Colorado Plateau of North America ( 7 , 9 , 23 ). Additionally, climate manipulations show similar community compositional shifts as physical disturbance ( 7 , 9 ), as do global synthesis and modeling projects ( 14 ), thereby calling into question biocrust state stability in a warming world.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Decline in biological soil crust N-fixing lichens linked to increasing summertime temperatures

Finger‐Higgens

Duniway

Fick

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Significance Across many global drylands, biocrusts form a protective barrier on the soil surface and fill many critical roles in these harsh yet fragile environments. Previous short-term research suggests that climate change and invasive plant introduction can damage and alter biocrust communities, yet few long-term observations exist. Using a globally unique long-term record of continuous biocrust surveys from a rare never-grazed, protected grassland on the US Colorado Plateau, we found lichen species diversity and cover to be negatively correlated with increasing summer air temperatures, while moss species showed more sensitivity to variation in precipitation and invasive grass cover. These results suggest that dryland systems may be at a critical tipping point where ongoing warming could result in biological soil crust degradation.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Decline in biological soil crust N-fixing lichens linked to increasing summertime temperatures

Finger‐Higgens

Duniway

Fick

et al. 2022

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Recent papers point to lower biocrust recovery times, ranging from a few years for early successional biocrusts (cyanobacteria) to 10-30 years for later successional biocrusts (lichens and mosses) (Kidron et al, 2020;Phillips et al, 2022). However, even though, initial soil colonization by biocrusts can be greatly retarded or impeded in unstable soils, subjected to high erosion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design Optimization of Biocrust-Plant Spatial Configuration for Dry Ecosystem Restoration Using Water Redistribution and Erosion Models

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Land degradation is one of the main threats to dryland sustainability in the next decades, hence restoration of the degraded land from drylands is an urgent need to maintain ecosystem functionality and their ability to provide ecosystem services. To achieve this goal, restoration practices should pursue the recovery of the main ground components, arranged in an optimal spatial configuration, to mimic undisturbed natural conditions. Drylands function as complex ecohydrologically coupled systems in which interplant source areas, frequently covered by biocrusts, act as sources of runoff and nutrients to adjacent vegetation, which act as sinks for these resources. Thus, one way to increase dryland restoration success is through an optimal spatial configuration of biocrusts and plants that maximizes an efficient use of the limited resources within the system. In this study, we selected a degraded slope from a limestone quarry located in Almería province (SE Spain) and modeled how active restoration of the biocrust through soil inoculation with cyanobacteria and its combination with different spatial configurations of vegetation affected runoff redistribution and erosion. For that, we applied the spatially distributed Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) which was able to predict the erosion measured on the slope during the study period with low error (RMSE = 17.8%). Modeling results showed that the introduction of vegetation on the degraded slope reduced runoff between 2 and 24% and erosion between 4 and 17% for the scenario with plants compared to the one without restoration management. Of all the vegetation spatial configurations tested, the one that provided better results was the scenario in which plants were located in the areas of higher water accumulation (higher topographic wetness index). Moreover, we found that active biocrust restoration by cyanobacteria inoculation significantly reduced erosion by 70–90%, especially during the first stages of plant development, while maintaining water supply to vegetation. These findings highlight the potential of water redistribution and erosion simulation models to identify the most optimal spatial configuration of ground covers that maximizes water and nutrient supply to vegetation, while minimizes water, sediment, and nutrient losses by erosion, thus serving as an efficient tool to plan restoration actions in drylands.

show abstract

Long‐term biocrust responses to wildfires in Washington, USA

Root,

Chan,

Ponzetti

et al. 2023

American J of Botany

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PremiseDryland ecosystems in the western United States are affected by invasive species, wildfires, livestock grazing, and climate change in ways that are difficult to distinguish. Biocrusts perform important ecological roles in these systems and are sensitive to all of these pressures.MethodsWe revisited a Washington, USA, site sampled for biocrusts in 1999 to focus on effects of exotic annual grass invasion and wildfires in the absence of livestock grazing. We examined changes between 1999 and 2020 using a Bayesian directed acyclic graph (DAG) to interpret direct and indirect causal impacts of wildfire on perennial bunchgrasses, exotic annual grasses, and biocrusts.ResultsBetween 1999 and 2020, exotic annual grass cover increased in all plots and in unburned plots by 16% and 18%, respectively, bunchgrass cover decreased by 21% and 25%, and biocrust cover decreased by 8.9% and 9.8%. Our DAG suggested that decreases in bunchgrass increased exotic annual grass, which reduced biocrust cover. Wildfires did not directly influence changes in bunchgrass, exotic annual grass, or biocrust cover. Areas dominated by exotic annual grass had less abundant and diverse biocrusts than areas with less exotic annual grass.ConclusionsBiocrust community changes were more strongly related to increasing exotic annual grasses than to wildfires. Changes may relate to other soil disturbances or broad‐scale changes in climate or air quality. The minimal influence of wildfire on exotic annual grass and biocrusts suggests that apparent negative impacts of wildfire at other sites may be due to exacerbation by livestock grazing or other surface disturbance.

show abstract

Biocrusts mediate a new mechanism for land degradation under a changing climate

Cited by 46 publications

References 57 publications

Decline in biological soil crust N-fixing lichens linked to increasing summertime temperatures

Decline in biological soil crust N-fixing lichens linked to increasing summertime temperatures

Design Optimization of Biocrust-Plant Spatial Configuration for Dry Ecosystem Restoration Using Water Redistribution and Erosion Models

Long‐term biocrust responses to wildfires in Washington, USA

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About