Bryophyte-dominated biological soil crusts mitigate soil erosion in an early successional Chinese subtropical forest

Seitz, Steffen; Nebel, Martin; Goebes, Philipp; Käppeler, Kathrin; Schmidt, Karsten; Shi, Xuezheng; Song, Zhenfei; Webber, Carla Lisiane; Weber, Bettina; Scholten, Thomas

doi:10.5194/bg-14-5775-2017

Cited by 49 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…Even though there is a rising interest in BCSs as global players in terrestrial nitrogen fixation (Elbert et al, 2012), reports on BSCs from forests are very rare (Seitz et al, 2017). Under mesic conditions, BSCs have to compete with highly competitive vascular plants, which strongly limit their development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In places where a substantial disturbance of intact forest ecosystems had occurred BSCs typically represent pioneer vegetation for the colonialization of bare soil. BSC organisms initiate the biological introduction of carbon and nutrients into soil, promoting the regrowth of vascular plants (Seitz et al, 2017) and erosion protection after heavy disturbance and destruction of intact forest ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Algal richness in BSCs in forests under different management intensity with some implications for P cycling

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are highly important communities in drylands and disturbed areas worldwide, where the higher vegetation is sparse, with a diverse microalgal community as the key component. They perform important ecological functions, such as stabilization of soil and nutrient enrichment. In temperate regions BSCs are also common, but generally less studied. Changes in land use and land use intensity strongly influence biodiversity per se and ecosystem processes, as can be seen particularly in densely populated regions like Europe. However, systematic studies on the effect of land use gradients, i.e., forest management intensity, on BSCs have been missing up to now. To close this knowledge gap and enhance the understanding of management effects on BSCs from pine and beech forests under different management regimes, key primary producers of these communities (eukaryotic microalgae and cyanobacteria) were studied. Phototrophic microorganisms were identified morphologically and categorized as either coccal taxa, which typically occur in high diversity, or filamentous taxa, which have the potential to initiate BSC formation. In total, 51 algal species were recorded, most of them from the phylum Chlorophyta, followed by Streptophyta and Stramenopiles, and only 1 cyanobacterial taxon. The most abundant crust-initiating filamentous algae were three species of Klebsormidium (Streptophyta), a ubiquitous genus regularly occurring in BSCs because of its broad ecophysiological tolerance. Increasing management intensity in the forests resulted in a higher number of algal species; especially the number of coccal taxa increased. Furthermore, the proportion of inorganic phosphorus showed tendencies towards a negative correlation with the number of algal species. Thus, management of forests has an impact on the diversity of phototrophic organisms in BSCs, which might in turn affect their biogeochemical P cycling.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Algal richness in BSCs in forests under different management intensity with some implications for P cycling

et al. 2018

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“…Biocrusts in (sub-)tropical forests have either been neglected entirely or described as a transient phenomenon associated to disturbances, such as treefall gaps, that disappear during forest succession (Seitz et al, 2017). This was not the case in the Caatinga, where biocrusts were present at every successional stage and reached similar coverage scores in old-growth and regenerating forests.…”

Section: Biocrust Distribution and Anthropogenic Disturbancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most situations, there is a clear climatic limitation to vascular plants, implying that the relationships between biocrust and vascular plants can't be properly assigned as well as the role played by biocrusts on successional trajectories or vegetation dynamics beyond biocrust succession itself (Duane Allen, 2010). In fact, little attention has been devoted to tropical ecosystem dominated by vascular plants, such as dry forests, where according to theory and the state of research, biocrusts are not expected to be either abundant or ecologically relevant (Belnap et al, 2001;Maestre and Cortina, 2002;Seitz et al, 2017). To the best of our knowledge, there are only two studies on biocrusts in dry tropical forests (Maya and López-Cortés, 2002;Büdel et al, 2009) and apparently South America has been entirely overlooked in the context of biocrust research (Büdel et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neglected but Potent Dry Forest Players: Ecological Role and Ecosystem Service Provision of Biological Soil Crusts in the Human-Modified Caatinga

et al. 2019

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Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) have been recognized as key ecological players in arid and semiarid regions at both local and global scales. They are important biodiversity components, provide critical ecosystem services, and strongly influence soil-plant relationships, and successional trajectories via facilitative, competitive, and edaphic engineering effects. Despite these important ecological roles, very little is known about biocrusts in seasonally dry tropical forests. Here we present a first baseline study on biocrust cover and ecosystem service provision in a human-modified landscape of the Brazilian Caatinga, South America's largest tropical dry forest. More specifically, we explored (1) across a network of 34 0.1 ha permanent plots the impact of disturbance, soil, precipitation, and vegetation-related parameters on biocrust cover in different stages of forest regeneration, and (2) the effect of disturbance on species composition, growth and soil organic carbon sequestration comparing early and late successional communities in two case study sites at opposite ends of the disturbance gradient. Our findings revealed that biocrusts are a conspicuous component of the Caatinga ecosystem with at least 50 different taxa of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and bryophytes (cyanobacteria and bryophytes dominating) covering nearly 10% of the total land surface and doubling soil organic carbon content relative to bare topsoil. High litter cover, high disturbance by goats, and low soil compaction were the leading drivers for reduced biocrust cover, while precipitation was not associated Second-growth forests supported anequally spaced biocrust cover, while in old-growth-forests biocrust cover was patchy. Disturbance reduced biocrust growth by two thirds and carbon sequestration by half. In synthesis, biocrusts increase soil organic carbon (SOC) in dry forests and as they double the SOC content in disturbed areas, may be capable of counterbalancing disturbance-induced soil degradation in this ecosystem. As they fix and fertilize depauperated soils, they may play a substantial role in vegetation regeneration in the human-modified Caatinga, and may have an extended ecological role due to the Szyja et al. Caatinga Biocrust Distribution and Services ever-increasing human encroachment on natural landscapes. Even though biocrusts benefit from human presence in dry forests, high levels of anthropogenic disturbance could threaten biocrust-provided ecosystem services, and call for further, in-depth studies to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.

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“…By inhabiting such disturbed territories, pioneer moss turfs form a new succession with changes in humidity (Shcherbachenko et al, 2015;Rabyk et al, 2017), mineral (Vilmundardóttir et al, 2018) and organic status of the substrate (Karpinets et al, 2016;Kyyak & Baik, 2016;Karpinets et al, 2017). The participation of bryophytes in the revitalization of plant cover of technogenic ecosystems is determined by their high tolerance to drying (Kyyak & Khorkavtsiv, 2015;Kyyak et al, 2017;, their ability to restore soil due to the structuring of its upper horizons (Carter & Arocena, 2000;Aronson & Alexander, 2013;Jackson, 2015), to prevent its erosion (Haig, 2016;Baughman et al, 2017;Stark, 2017), to absorb and retain moisture (Seitz et al, 2017;Batista et al, 2018;Delgado-Baquerizo et al, 2018), thereby reducing surface runoff (Greenwood & Stark, 2014;Zhao et al, 2014;García et al, 2016). Due to its specific properties of metabolism, moss turf has a significant effect on the soil chemical reaction, accelerating the exchange of cations in the biogeochemical cycle, affecting the circulation of organic carbon and nutrients through the release of mineral and organic compounds into soil solutions (Douma et al, 2007;Kyyak & Baik, 2016), synthesis of phenolic substances with a wide spectrum of antimicrobial action, which promotes the development of a substantial litter layer, in which the processes of mineralization are much slower, biogenic elements are accumulated and favourable conditions for the growth of the underground organs of vascu-lar plants are created (Cortina-Segarra et al, 2016;Bueno de Mesquita et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological and physiological peculiarities of bryophytes on a post-technogenic salinized territory

2019

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Taxonomic, biomorphological and ecological structures of bryophytes, their reproductive strategy and the main mechanisms of tolerance in the conditions of salinization were investigated. Bryophytes are the pioneers that have colonized the territory of a tailing storage that holds liquid waste from potassium-magnesium concentrate production of the Mining and Chemical Enterprise "Polymineral". Due to excess salts, the soil solution in the shore area of the tailing pond acquires high osmotic pressure. Three experimental plots which differed significantly in the level of the substrate salinity were laid at the distance of 3, 6 and 9 m from the reservoir for experimental studies. Water extracts of the substrates from the test sites showed the highest concentrations for sulfates – 10.4–64.6 mg Eq/100 g of soil and chlorides – 7.6–43.3 mg Eq/100 g of soil. It was established that the investigated areas of the tailing storage territory differed in the biochemical activity of the substrate, which was evaluated by its redox potential. On the areas of the uncovered substrate it was the lowest – 230 mV, which indicates anaerobiosis in conditions of very high salinization and moisture. Higher ROP values were determined at the sites of bryophyte cover distribution – 295–330 mV. The aim of the study was to determine the features of taxonomic, biomorphological and ecological structures of bryophytes, their reproductive strategy and to establish the main mechanisms of adaptation to the conditions of salinization on the tailing storage territory. 24 species and 3 varieties of bryophytes, belonging to 12 families and 16 genera were found on the shore of the tailing storage pond. The results of biomorphological and ecological analysis of bryophytes indicate the uneven conditions of the habitats and their considerable ecological plasticity. Among the bryophytes, mesophytes, xeromesophytes and meso-eutrophs, eutrophs with a life-form of low dense and loose turf dominated. In salinization conditions, dioicous acrocarpous mosses prevailed, the fertile turf of which, depending on the influence of abiotic factors, differed significantly in the number of sexual shoots, their ratio and productivity. Bulbils were found only on the tips of Bryum argenteum shoots. Along with Salicornia europaea L., a euhalophyte, the leading role in the initial stage of overgrowth of the tailing storage area most often belonged to Didymodon rigidulus, Bryum argenteum, Funaria hygrometrica and Barbula unguiculata. The process of formation of bryophyte cover occurred along a gradient of decrease in salt concentration at the experimental sites. Adaptation of bryophytes to substrate salinity is due to a change in metabolic processes, which is manifested in an increase of the total content of carbohydrates and an increase of the cation exchange capacity of moss cell walls, which is the primary barrier that reduces the toxic effect of ions under salt stress.

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Bryophyte-dominated biological soil crusts mitigate soil erosion in an early successional Chinese subtropical forest

Cited by 49 publications

References 87 publications

Algal richness in BSCs in forests under different management intensity with some implications for P cycling

Algal richness in BSCs in forests under different management intensity with some implications for P cycling

Neglected but Potent Dry Forest Players: Ecological Role and Ecosystem Service Provision of Biological Soil Crusts in the Human-Modified Caatinga

Ecological and physiological peculiarities of bryophytes on a post-technogenic salinized territory

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