Wind transport of sand surfaces crusted with photoautotrophic microorganisms

Neuman, Cheryl McKenna; Maxwell, Christine D.; Boulton, J. Wayne

doi:10.1016/0341-8162(96)00023-9

Cited by 154 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Biocrust loss increases water and wind erosion (Bowker et al, 2008;Chamizo et al, 2010Chamizo et al, , 2012aEldridge and Greene, 1994;Lázaro et al, 2008;McKenna-Neuman et al, 1996), triggering OC losses and reducing the capacity of soils to trap nutrient-enriched dust (Reynolds et al, 2001). Human disturbances in semiarid areas leading to biocrust disturbance alter the balanced transfer of OC to vegetated patches.…”

Section: Organic Carbon Dynamics After Crust Removalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of organic carbon losses by water erosion after biocrust removal

Cantón

Román

Chamizo

et al. 2014

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

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Abstract:In arid and semiarid ecosystems, plant interspaces are frequently covered by communities of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and mosses, known as biocrusts. These crusts often act as runoff sources and are involved in soil stabilization and fertility, as they prevent erosion by water and wind, fix atmospheric C and N and contribute large amounts of C to soil. Their contribution to the C balance as photosynthetically active surfaces in arid and semiarid regions is receiving growing attention. However, very few studies have explicitly evaluated their contribution to organic carbon (OC) lost from runoff and erosion, which is necessary to ascertain the role of biocrusts in the ecosystem C balance. Furthermore, biocrusts are not resilient to physical disturbances, which generally cause the loss of the biocrust and thus, an increase in runoff and erosion, dust emissions, and sediment and nutrient losses. The aim of this study was to find out the influence of biocrusts and their removal on dissolved and sediment organic carbon losses. One-hour extreme rainfall simulations (50 mm h -1 ) were performed on small plots set up on physical soil crusts and three types of biocrusts, representing a development gradient, and also on plots where these crusts were removed from. Runoff and erosion rates, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and organic carbon bonded to sediments (S d OC) were measured during the simulated rain. Our results showed different S d OC and DOC for the different biocrusts and also that the presence of biocrusts substantially decreased total organic carbon (TOC) (average 1.80±1.86 g m -2 ) compared to physical soil crusts (7.83±3.27 g m -2 ). Within biocrusts, TOC losses decreased as biocrusts developed, and erosion rates were lower. Thus, erosion drove TOC losses while no significant direct relationships were found between TOC losses and runoff. In both physical crusts and biocrusts, DOC and S d OC concentrations were higher during the first minutes after runoff began and decreased over time as nutrient-enriched fine particles were washed away by runoff water. Crust removal caused a strong increase in water erosion and TOC losses. The strongest impacts on TOC losses after crust removal occurred on the lichen plots, due to the increased erosion when they were removed. DOC concentration was higher in biocrust-removed soils than in intact biocrusts, probably because OC is more strongly retained by BSC structures, but easily blown away in soils devoid of them. However, S d OC concentration was higher in intact than removed biocrusts associated with greater OC content in the top crust than in the soil once the crust is scraped off. Consequently, the loss of biocrusts leads to OC impoverishment of nutrient-limited interplant spaces in arid and semiarid areas and the reduction of soil OC heterogeneity, essential for vegetation productivity and functioning of this type of ecosystems.

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Section: Organic Carbon Dynamics After Crust Removalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of organic carbon losses by water erosion after biocrust removal

Cantón

Román

Chamizo

et al. 2014

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics

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“…The next most dominant species underneath M. vaginatus was P. tenue in ST1 crusts or L. cryptovaginatus in ST2 and ST3 crusts (no dominant species in the crusts from ST4 and ST5). These two species often grow at deeper layers of algal mats (Davey and Clarke, 1992;Stal, 2000;Stanislaw, 1982) and have strong cohesion in stabilizing unconsolidated soil particles (Hu et al, 2002a;Liu et al 2001;McKenna Neuman et al, 1996). Interwoven among these organisms were other filamentous cyanobacteria such as Anabaena sp., which in turn were entangled with mineral particles ( Figure 1F).…”

Section: Variation Of Dominant Species Within Vertical Profilementioning

confidence: 99%

The vertical microdistribution of cyanobacteria and green algae within desert crusts and the development of the algal crusts

et al. 2003

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Substantial amounts of algal crusts were collected from five different desert experimental sites aged 42, 34, 17, 8 and 4 years, respectively, at Shapotou (China) and analyzed at a 0.1 mm microscale of depth. It was found that the vertical distribution of cyanobacteria and microalgae in the crusts was distinctly laminated into an inorganic-layer (ca.0.00-0.02 mm, with few algae), an algae-dense-layer (ca.0.02-1.0 mm) and an algae-sparselayer (ca.1.0-5.0 mm). It was interesting to note that in all crusts Scytonema javanicum Born et Flah (or Nostoc sp., cyanobacterium), Desmococcus olivaceus (Pers ex Ach., green alga) Laundon and Microcoleus vaginatus Gom. (cyanobacterium) dominated at the depth of 0.02-0.05, 0.05-0.1 and 0.1-1.0 mm, respectively, from the surface. Phormidium tenue Gom. (or Lyngbya cryptovaginatus Schk., cyanobacterium) and Navicula cryptocephala Kutz.(or Hantzschia amphioxys (Ehr.) Grun. and N. cryptocephala together, diatom) dominated at the depth of 1.0-3.0 and 3.5-4.0 mm, respectively, of the crusts from the 42 and 34 year old sites. It was apparent that in more developed crusts there were more green algae and the niches of Nostoc sp., Chlorella vulgaris Beij., M. vaginatus, N. cryptocephala and fungi were nearer to the surface. If lichens and mosses accounted for less than 41.5% of the crust surface, algal biovolume was bigger when the crust was older, but the opposite was true when the cryptogams other than algae covered more than 70%. In addition to detailed species composition and biovolume, analyses of soil physicochemical properties, micromorphologies and mineral components were also performed. It was found that the concentration of organic matter and nutrients, electric conductivity, silt, clay, secondary minerals were higher and there were more micro-beddings in the older crusts than the less developed ones. Possible mechanisms for the algal vertical microdistribtion at different stages and the impact of soil topography on crust development are discussed. It is concluded that biomethods (such as fine species distribution and biovolume) were more precise than mineralogical approaches in judging algal crust development and thus could be a better means to measure the potentiality of algal crusts in desert amelioration.Abbreviations: I.V. -Important Value; PLM -Polarizing Light Microscope; SEM -Scanning Electron Microscopy

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“…The crusts of several mm thickness are mainly composed of cyanobacteria during the first, early successional stage, later on algae, lichens and mosses occur. These communities effectively stabilize the upper millimeters of the soil surface and create a physically strong surface and inhibit wind erosion (McKenna Neumann et al 1996;Belnap & Gillette 1998). The resistance against wind erosion is strongly related to BSC thickness (Belnap & Gillette 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ongoing succession of biological soil crusts increases water repellency — a case study on Arenosols in Sekule, Slovakia

et al. 2013

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After soil surface disturbances biological soil crusts (BSC) cover rapidly the topmost soil millimeters. Depending on BSC age, development of soil water repellency, water infiltration and soil surface stability are influenced by this thin surface sealing. Within this study disturbed, early-mid-and late successional stages of BSC development were examined along a recovery transect. The results show an increase in water repellency and a decrease in water sorptivity and conductivity with ongoing BSC succession. Penetration resistance data shows very stable thin surface protection by cyanobacteria in early successional BSC that is non-repellent. Later successional stages show increased water repellency and lower water conductivity. We conclude that BSC development induces changes in surface structure and wettability. The soil surface wettability is strongly linked to the BSC community composition.

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Wind transport of sand surfaces crusted with photoautotrophic microorganisms

Cited by 154 publications

References 34 publications

Dynamics of organic carbon losses by water erosion after biocrust removal

Dynamics of organic carbon losses by water erosion after biocrust removal

The vertical microdistribution of cyanobacteria and green algae within desert crusts and the development of the algal crusts

Ongoing succession of biological soil crusts increases water repellency — a case study on Arenosols in Sekule, Slovakia

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