Vertical movement of soluble carbon and nutrients from biocrusts to subsurface mineral soils

Young, Kristina E.; Ferrenberg, Scott; Reibold, Robin; Reed, Sasha C.; Swenson, Tami L.; Northen, Trent; Darrouzet‐Nardi, Anthony

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2021.115495

Cited by 24 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…It has also been shown that these microorganisms actively mediate bioweathering activities regarding nutrient acquisition, which can lead to the formation of a terrestrial protopedon as initial pedogenesis (Jung et al, 2020b). This terrestrial protopedon is a fine substrate enriched in nitrogen from cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation and carbon from photosynthesis that primes the substrate for the establishment of other organisms and leaches into deeper layers (Dojani et al, 2007;Young et al, 2022). Triggering this succession is a well-known feature of biocrusts worldwide (Belnap and Weber, 2013;Barger et al, 2016;Bao et al, 2019), but the grit crust is the only biocrust type on Earth where minerals are the starting material and not (the more weathered) sand or soil.…”

Section: Suitability Of the Grit Crust's Ecology For The Colonization...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Jung

Lehnert

Bendix

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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The grit crust is a recently discovered, novel type of biocrust made of prokaryotic cyanobacteria, eukaryotic green algae, fungi, lichens and other microbes that grow around and within granitoid stone pebbles of about 6 mm diameter in the Coastal Range of the Atacama Desert, Chile. The microbial community is very well adapted towards the extreme conditions of the Atacama Desert, such as the highest irradiation of the planet, strong temperature amplitudes and steep wet-dry cycles. It also has several other striking features making this biocrust unique compared to biocrusts known from other arid biomes on Earth. It has already been shown that the grit crust mediates various bio-weathering activities in its natural habitat. These activities prime soil for higher organisms in a way that can be envisioned as a proxy for general processes shaping even extra-terrestrial landscapes. This mini-review highlights the potential of the grit crust as a model for astrobiology in terms of extra-terrestrial microbial colonization and biotechnological applications that support human colonization of planets.

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Section: Suitability Of the Grit Crust's Ecology For The Colonization...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Jung

Lehnert

Bendix

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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“…Moss establishment further enhances soil development in newly exposed terrain, by contributing to N (Arroniz-Crespo et al, 2014;Bowden, 1991;Vilmundard ottir et al, 2015b), retaining moisture, and contributing to organic matter buildup (Vilmundard ottir et al, 2015b;Wietrzyk-Pełka et al, 2020), which additionally promotes soil microbial growth (Bardgett & Walker, 2004). Thus, while microbial communities can facilitate moss establishment, mosses influence underlying soil microbial communities via leachate, similar to how different litter types influence soil microbial communities (Fanin et al, 2014;Young et al, 2022). Despite an increasing number of studies linking the development of soil microbial communities to establishment of plants in glacier forefields (Arroniz-Crespo et al, 2014;de Mesquita et al, 2017;Knelman et al, 2012Knelman et al, , 2018, we have a very limited understanding of the dynamics of moss-associated bacterial communities during ecosystem development in these environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moss and underlying soil bacterial community structures are linked to moss functional traits

et al. 2023

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Mosses are among the first colonizing organisms after glacier retreat and can develop into thick moss mats during later successional stages. They are key players in N 2 fixation through their microbiome, which is an important process for nutrient buildup during primary succession. How these moss-microbe interactions develop during succession is not well studied and is relevant in the light of climate change and increased glacier retreat. We examined how the bacterial communities associated with two moss species of the genus Racomitrium and the underlying soil, as well as moss traits and nitrogen fixation, develop along a successional gradient in the glacier forefield of Fl aajökull in southeast Iceland. In addition, we tested whether moss functional traits, such as total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, moss moisture content, and moss shoot length are drivers of moss and underlying soil bacterial communities. Although time since deglaciation did not affect TN and moss moisture contents, TC and shoot length increased with time since deglaciation.Moss and underlying soil bacterial communities were distinct. While the soil bacterial community structure was driven by moss C/N ratios, the moss bacterial community structure was linked to time since deglaciation, moss C/N ratio, and moss moisture content. Moss N 2 -fixation rates were linked to bacterial community composition and nifH gene abundance rather than moss TN or time since deglaciation. This was accompanied by a shift from autotrophic to heterotrophic diazotrophs. Overall, our results suggest that there is little lateral transfer between moss and soil bacterial communities and that moss traits affect moss and soil bacterial community structure. Only moss bacterial community changed with time since deglaciation. In addition, moss N 2 -fixation rates are determined by bacterial community structure, rather than moss traits or time since deglaciation. This study on the interplay between succession, mosses, soils, and their bacterial communities will inform future work on the fate of newly exposed areas as a result of glacier retreat.

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“…Altered soil water availability may also impact the stability and composition of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) (Phillips et al, 2022), which are an important component of many drylands (Belnap et al, 2001(Belnap et al, , p. 2001Bowker et al, 2018). Healthy biocrusts are known to increase near surface water holding capacity (Eldridge et al, 2020), stabilize soils against erosion (Rodriguez-Caballero et al, 2018), and harbor biogeochemical transformation (Young et al, 2022), so any potential decreases in biocrust cover may have cascading impacts on dryland biogeochemical cycles (Barger et al, 2016;Osborne et al, 2022). Declines in biocrusts are known to impact N cycling in particular, as key components of latesuccessional biocrusts (free-living cyanobacteria and cyanobacteriaassociated lichen species) can contribute to ecosystem N inputs via atmospheric N 2 fixation (Figure 1, Barger et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Droughting a megadrought: Ecological consequences of a decade of experimental drought atop aridification on the Colorado Plateau

Finger‐Higgens

Bishop

Belnap

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Global dryland vegetation communities will likely change as ongoing drought conditions shift regional climates towards a more arid future. Additional aridification of drylands can impact plant and ground cover, biogeochemical cycles, and plant–soil feedbacks, yet how and when these crucial ecosystem components will respond to drought intensification requires further investigation. Using a long‐term precipitation reduction experiment (35% reduction) conducted across the Colorado Plateau and spanning 10 years into a 20+ year regional megadrought, we explored how vegetation cover, soil conditions, and growing season nitrogen (N) availability are impacted by drying climate conditions. We observed large declines for all dominant plant functional types (C3 and C4 grasses and C3 and C4 shrubs) across measurement period, both in the drought treatment and control plots, likely due to ongoing regional megadrought conditions. In experimental drought plots, we observed less plant cover, less biological soil crust cover, warmer and drier soil conditions, and more soil resin‐extractable N compared to the control plots. Observed increases in soil N availability were best explained by a negative correlation with plant cover regardless of treatment, suggesting that declines in vegetation N uptake may be driving increases in available soil N. However, in ecosystems experiencing long‐term aridification, increased N availability may ultimately result in N losses if soil moisture is consistently too dry to support plant and microbial N immobilization and ecosystem recovery. These results show dramatic, worrisome declines in plant cover with long‐term drought. Additionally, this study highlights that more plant cover losses are possible with further drought intensification and underscore that, in addition to large drought effects on aboveground communities, drying trends drive significant changes to critical soil resources such as N availability, all of which could have long‐term ecosystem impacts for drylands.

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Vertical movement of soluble carbon and nutrients from biocrusts to subsurface mineral soils

Cited by 24 publications

References 71 publications

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

The grit crust: A poly-extremotolerant microbial community from the Atacama Desert as a model for astrobiology

Moss and underlying soil bacterial community structures are linked to moss functional traits

Droughting a megadrought: Ecological consequences of a decade of experimental drought atop aridification on the Colorado Plateau

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