Diversity of biocrust-forming cyanobacteria in a semiarid gypsiferous site from Central Spain

Cano‐Díaz, Concha; Mateo, Pilar; Muñoz-Martín, M. Ángeles; Maestre, Fernando T.

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.11.008

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Open areas between plants contain a well‐developed biocrust community dominated by lichens such as Diploschistes diacapsis , Squamarina lentigera , Fulgensia subbracteata and Buellia zoharyi . Moss‐dominated crust with species such as Pleurochaete squarrosa and Didymodon acutus are also present (mostly under the canopy of M. tenacissima ), as well as cyanobacteria of the genera Microcoleus , Schizothrix , Tolypothrix , Scytonema and Nostoc (Cano‐Díaz et al ., ). See Maestre et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Warming reduces the cover, richness and evenness of lichen‐dominated biocrusts but promotes moss growth: insights from an 8 yr experiment

et al. 2018

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Despite the important role that biocrust communities play in maintaining ecosystem structure and functioning in drylands world-wide, few studies have evaluated how climate change will affect them. Using data from an 8-yr-old manipulative field experiment located in central Spain, we evaluated how warming, rainfall exclusion and their combination affected the dynamics of biocrust communities in areas that initially had low (< 20%, LIBC plots) and high (> 50%, HIBC plots) biocrust cover. Warming reduced the richness (35 ± 6%), diversity (25 ± 8%) and cover (82 ± 5%) of biocrusts in HIBC plots. The presence and abundance of mosses increased with warming through time in these plots, although their growth rate was much lower than the rate of lichen death, resulting in a net loss of biocrust cover. On average, warming caused a decrease in the abundance (64 ± 7%) and presence (38 ± 24%) of species in the HIBC plots. Over time, lichens and mosses colonized the LIBC plots, but this process was hampered by warming in the case of lichens. The observed reductions in the cover and diversity of lichen-dominated biocrusts with warming will lessen the capacity of drylands such as that studied here to sequester atmospheric CO and to provide other key ecosystem services associated to these communities.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Warming reduces the cover, richness and evenness of lichen‐dominated biocrusts but promotes moss growth: insights from an 8 yr experiment

et al. 2018

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“…Our results suggest that evaporation is higher in biocrust-dominated than in bare ground soils. We speculate that this could be the consequence of the soil surface darkening by cyanobacteria (Rutherford et al, 2017), which are abundant in our study area (Cano-Díaz, Mateo, Muñoz-Martín, & Maestre, 2018), and by some lichen species (e.g., Toninia sedifolia), which would thus increase surface heating and enhance evaporation. The increase in soil surface roughness by biocrusts, which also increases the amount of soil surface that can be heated (Kidron & Tal, 2012), can also contribute to explain the results observed.…”

Section: Drivers Of Soil Water Gains and Losses After Rainfall Eventsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Simulated climate change affects how biocrusts modulate water gains and desiccation dynamics after rainfall events

et al. 2018

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Soil surface communities dominated by mosses, lichens and cyanobacteria (biocrusts) are common between vegetation patches in drylands worldwide, and are known to affect soil wetting and drying after rainfall events. While ongoing climate change is already warming and changing rainfall patterns of drylands in many regions, little is known on how these changes may affect the hydrological behaviour of biocrust-covered soils. We used eight years of continuous soil moisture and rainfall data from a climate change experiment in central Spain to explore how biocrusts modify soil water gains and losses after rainfall events under simulated changes in temperature (2.5°C warming) and rainfall (33% reduction). Both rainfall amount and biocrust cover increased soil water gains after rainfall events, whereas experimental warming, rainfall intensity and initial soil moisture decreased them. Initial moisture, maximum temperature and biocrust cover, by means of enhancing potential evapotranspiration or by soil darkening, increased the drying rates and enhanced the exponential behaviour of the drying events. Meanwhile, warming reduced their exponential behaviour. The effects of climate change treatments on soil water gains and losses changed through time, with important differences between the first two years of the experiment and five years after its setup. These effects were mainly driven by the important reductions in biocrust cover and diversity observed under warming. Our results highlight the importance of long-term studies to understand soil moisture responses to ongoing climate change in drylands.

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“…Semiarid ecosystems comprise more than half of the extent of the Mediterranean basin in Spain. Macroscopic components of biocrusts, such as bryophytes and lichens, are well described there (Maestre et al, 2011), but only a few studies have addressed the cyanobacterial crust community composition and distribution (Maestre et al, 2011;Cano-D ıaz et al, 2018). The aim of this study was to analyze the cyanobacterial diversity in biocrusts along a latitudinal and climatic gradient in Spain, to compare it with other geographical regions, as well as to determine the environmental factors that might drive cyanobacterial distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cyanobacterial biocrust diversity in Mediterranean ecosystems along a latitudinal and climatic gradient

et al. 2018

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Cyanobacteria are a key biotic component as primary producers in biocrusts, topsoil communities that have important roles in the functioning of drylands. Yet, major knowledge gaps exist regarding the composition of biocrust cyanobacterial diversity and distribution in Mediterranean ecosystems. We describe cyanobacterial diversity in Mediterranean semiarid soil crusts along an aridity gradient by using next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics analyses, and detect clear shifts along it in cyanobacterial dominance. Statistical analyses show that temperature and precipitation were major parameters determining cyanobacterial composition, suggesting the presence of differentiated climatic niches for distinct cyanobacteria. The responses to temperature of a set of cultivated, pedigreed strains representative of the field populations lend direct support to that contention, with psychrotolerant vs thermotolerant physiology being strain dependent, and consistent with their dominance along the natural gradient. Our results suggest a possible replacement, as global warming proceeds, of cool-adapted by warm-adapted nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria (such as Scytonema) and a switch in the dominance of Microcoleus vaginatus by thermotolerant, novel phylotypes of bundle-forming cyanobacteria. These differential sensitivities of cyanobacteria to rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation, their ubiquity, and their low generation time point to their potential as bioindicators of global change.

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Diversity of biocrust-forming cyanobacteria in a semiarid gypsiferous site from Central Spain

Cited by 29 publications

References 49 publications

Warming reduces the cover, richness and evenness of lichen‐dominated biocrusts but promotes moss growth: insights from an 8 yr experiment

Warming reduces the cover, richness and evenness of lichen‐dominated biocrusts but promotes moss growth: insights from an 8 yr experiment

Simulated climate change affects how biocrusts modulate water gains and desiccation dynamics after rainfall events

Cyanobacterial biocrust diversity in Mediterranean ecosystems along a latitudinal and climatic gradient

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