The symbiotic alga Trebouxia fuels a coherent soil ecosystem on the landscape scale in the Atacama Desert
Patrick Jung,
Rebekah Brand,
Laura Briegel-Williams
et al.
Abstract:Biocrusts represent associations of lichens, green algae, cyanobacteria, fungi and other microorganisms, colonizing soils in varying proportions of principally arid biomes. The so-called grit crust represents a recently discovered type of biocrust situated in the Coastal Range of the Atacama Desert (Chile) made of microorganisms growing on and in granitoid pebbles, resulting in a checkerboard pattern visible to the naked eye on the landscape scale. This specific microbiome fulfills a broad range of ecosystem s… Show more
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