Successful lichen translocation on disturbed gypsum areas: A test with adhesives to promote the recovery of biological soil crusts

Abstract

The loss of biological soil crusts represents a challenge for the restoration of disturbed environments, specifically in particular substrates hosting unique lichen communities. However, the recovery of lichen species affected by mining is rarely addressed in restoration projects. Here, we evaluate the translocation of Diploschistes diacapsis, a representative species of gypsum lichen communities affected by quarrying. We tested how a selection of adhesives could improve thallus attachment to the substrate and affect lichen vitality (as CO2 exchange and fluorescence) in rainfall-simulation and field experiments. Treatments included: white glue, water, hydroseeding stabiliser, gum arabic, synthetic resin, and a control with no adhesive. Attachment differed only in the field, where white glue and water performed best. Adhesives altered CO2 exchange and fluorescence yield. Notably, wet spoils allowed thalli to bind to the substrate after drying, revealing as the most suitable option for translocation. The satisfactory results applying water on gypsum spoils are encouraging to test this methodology with other lichen species. Implementing these measures in restoration projects would be relatively easy and cost-effective. It would help not only to recover lichen species in the disturbed areas but also to take advantage of an extremely valuable biological material that otherwise would be lost.

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

“…Another feature of some terricolous lichen species is a capacity to move through dispersion of thallus fragments (Heinken, 1999), such as D. diacapsis, the most dynamic species detected in this study. This species can have different degrees of attachment in the soil, sometimes being able to detach easily (Ballesteros et al, 2017). Thus, the rapid losses of cover of this species detected in the warming treatment are probably a result of the detachment of fragments from the soil and their dispersion through wind to other places.…”

Symbiotic microalgal diversity within lichenicolous lichens and crustose hosts on Iberian Peninsula gypsum biocrusts

“…Biocrusts are present in a wide variety of ecosystems; however, they are most abundant in harsh environments 6 with sparse vascular vegetation cover, where they are considered pioneers in colonizing free soil surfaces 7 . Biocrusts dominated by lichens have a high conservation value due to their potential to form extended covers, greatly contributing to ecosystems considered hotspots of biodiversity 8 .…”

Identifying social–ecological gaps to promote biocrust conservation actions

“…1). Applied research efforts have been mainly focused on the development of new biotechnological tools to restore degraded drylands by recovering biocrusts and the services they provide (Ballesteros et al, 2017;Román et al, 2018). Practical methodologies for biocrust mapping, monitoring, and modelling (i.e.…”