Filling the interspace—restoring arid land mosses: source populations, organic matter, and overwintering govern success

Abstract

Biological soil crusts contribute to ecosystem functions and occupy space that could be available to invasive annual grasses. Given disturbances in the semiarid shrub steppe communities, we embarked on a set of studies to investigate restoration potential of mosses in sagebrush steppe ecosystems. We examined establishment and growth of two moss species common to the Great Basin, USA: Bryum argenteum and Syntrichia ruralis from two environmental settings (warm dry vs. cool moist). Moss fragments were inoculated into a third warm dry setting, on bare soil in spring and fall, both with and without a jute net and with and without spring irrigation. Moss cover was monitored in spring seasons of three consecutive years. Both moss species increased in cover over the winter. When Bryum received spring irrigation that was out of sync with natural precipitation patterns, moss cover increased and then crashed, taking two seasons to recover. Syntrichia did not respond to the irrigation treatment. The addition of jute net increased moss cover under all conditions, except Syntrichia following fall inoculation, which required a second winter to increase in cover. The warm dry population of Bryum combined with jute achieved on average 60% cover compared to the cool moist population that achieved only 28% cover by the end of the study. Differences were less pronounced for Syntrichia where moss from the warm dry population with jute achieved on average 51% cover compared to the cool moist population that achieved 43% cover by the end of the study. Restoration of arid land mosses may quickly protect soils from erosion while occupying sites before invasive plants. We show that higher moss cover will be achieved quickly with the addition of organic matter and when moss fragments originate from sites with a climate that is similar to that of the restoration site.

Soil characteristics are associated with gradients of big sagebrush canopy structure after disturbance

“…Nonetheless, biocrust development can be affected by multiple factors not accounted for in this study such as burn severity, livestock grazing, or exotic annual grass cover (Dettweiler-Robinson et al 2013, Condon and Pyke 2016). The association of the different biocrust pedoderms on sagebrush canopy growth may relate to the ability of biocrusts to dramatically change soil hydrologic properties by increasing infiltration and decreasing runoff and evapotranspiration (Belnap 2006, Whitney et al 2017.…”

Insolation and disturbance history drive biocrust biodiversity in Western Montana rangelands

“…Additionally biocrusts may have positive or negative interactions with vascular plants (Reisner et al 2013;Kidron 2014;Xiao and Hu 2017;Xiao and Veste 2017). Of particular regional importance, biocrusts may reduce the germination or establishment of annual weeds such as Bromus tectorum (Zaady et al 2003;Condon and Pyke 2016). However, they may also enhance Bromus tectorum growth by increasing soil fertility (Ferrenberg et al 2017a, b).…”

“…placement of jute cloth on the soil surface; Condon and Pyke 2016). Since many biocrust organisms can be artificially grown (Condon and Pyke 2016;Bowker et al 2017), our results are useful in determining appropriate species to culture for restoration applications in various settings. One logical approach is to target the most widespread species such as Syntrichia ruralis and Bryum spp.…”

Hydrological function of rapidly induced biocrusts

“…Notable successes include dune stabilization efforts in Inner Mongolia and the Tengger Desert (Chen et al, 2006;Hu, Liu, Song, & Zhang, 2002;Wang, Liu, Li, Hu, & Rao, 2009), the Colorado Plateau (Belnap, 1993), the Mojave Desert (Chiquoine, Abella, & Bowker, 2016), and Great Basin (Condon & Pyke, 2016). Notable successes include dune stabilization efforts in Inner Mongolia and the Tengger Desert (Chen et al, 2006;Hu, Liu, Song, & Zhang, 2002;Wang, Liu, Li, Hu, & Rao, 2009), the Colorado Plateau (Belnap, 1993), the Mojave Desert (Chiquoine, Abella, & Bowker, 2016), and Great Basin (Condon & Pyke, 2016).…”

“…Despite these advances, there have been fewer studies of biocrust restoration in the field, where establishment success has been highly variable. Notable successes include dune stabilization efforts in Inner Mongolia and the Tengger Desert (Chen et al, 2006;Hu, Liu, Song, & Zhang, 2002;Wang, Liu, Li, Hu, & Rao, 2009), the Colorado Plateau (Belnap, 1993), the Mojave Desert (Chiquoine, Abella, & Bowker, 2016), and Great Basin (Condon & Pyke, 2016). Many of the recorded successes correspond with periods of greater moisture availability, such as Chen et al (2006) who implemented large-scale continuous irrigation.…”