Hydrological response of biological soil crusts to global warming: A ten-year simulative study.

Biological soil crusts across the desert regions play a key role in regional ecological security and ecological health. They are vital biotic components of desert ecosystems that maintain soil stability, fix carbon and nitrogen, influence the establishment of vascular plants, and serve as habitats for a large number of arthropods and microorganisms, as well as influencing soil hydrological processes. Changes in temperature and precipitation are expected to influence the functioning of desert ecosystems by altering biotic components such as the species composition of biological soil crusts. However, it remains unclear how these important components will respond to the prolonged warming and reduced precipitation that is predicted to occur with climate change. To evaluate how the hydrological properties of these biological soil crusts respond to these alterations, we used open-top chambers over a 10-year period to simulate warming and reduced precipitation. Infiltration, dew entrapment, and evaporation were measured as surrogates of the hydrological functioning of biological soil crusts. It was found that the ongoing warming coupled with reduced precipitation will more strongly affect moss in crustal communities than lichens and cyanobacteria, which will lead to a direct alteration of the hydrological performance of biological soil crusts. Reductions in moss abundance, surface cover, and biomass resulted in a change in structure and function of crustal communities, decreased dew entrapment, and increased infiltration and evaporation of biological soil crusts in desert ecosystems, which further impacted on the desert soil water balance.

Rapid development of cyanobacterial crust in the field for combating desertification.

Desertification is currently a major concern, and vast regions have already been devastated in the arid zones of many countries. Combined application of cyanobacteria with soil fixing chemicals is a novel method of restoring desertified areas. Three cyanobacteria, Nostoc sp. Vaucher ex Bornet & Flahault, Phormidium sp. Kützing ex Gomont and Scytonema arcangeli Bornet ex Flahault were isolated and tested in this study. Tacki-SprayTM (TKS7), which consists of bio-polysaccharides and tackifiers, was used as a soil fixing agent. In addition, superabsorbent polymer (SAP) was applied to the soil as a water-holding material and nutrient supplement. Application of cyanobacteria with superabsorbent polymer and TKS7 (CST) remarkably improved macro-aggregate stability against water and erodibility against wind after 12 months of inoculation when compared to the control soil. The mean weight diameter and threshold friction velocity of the CST treated soil were found to be 75% and 88% of those of the approximately 20-year-old natural cyanobacterial crust (N-BSC), respectively, while these values were 68% and 73% of those of the N-BSC soil after a single treatment of cyanobacteria alone (CY). Interestingly, biological activities of CST were similar to those of CY. Total carbohydrate contents, cyanobacterial biomass, microbial biomass, soil respiration, carbon fixation and effective quantum yield of CST treated soil were enhanced by 50-100% of the N-BSC, while those of control soil were negligible. Our results suggest that combined application of cyanobacteria with soil fixing chemicals can rapidly develop cyanobacterial crust formation in the field within 12 months. The physical properties and biological activities of the inoculated cyanobacterial crust were stable during the study period. The novel method presented herein serves as another approach for combating desertification in arid regions.

[Effects of sand burial on fluxes of greenhouse gases from the soil covered by biocrust in an arid desert region.] / 沙埋对干旱沙区生物结皮覆盖土壤温室气体通量的影响.

Based on the measurements of the fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O from the soil covered by two types of biocrusts dominated separately by moss and algae-lichen, followed by 0 (control), 1 (shallow) and 10 (deep) mm depths of sand burial treatments, we studied the effects of sand burial on greenhouse gases fluxes and their relationships with soil temperature and moisture at Shapotou, southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert. The results showed that sand burial had significantly positive effects on CO2 emission fluxes and CH4 uptake fluxes of the soil covered by the two types of biocrusts, but imposed differential effects on N2O fluxes depending on the type of biocrust and the depth of burial. Deep burial (10 mm) dramatically increased the N2O uptake fluxes of the soil co-vered by the two types of biocrusts, while shallow burial (1 mm) decreased the N2O uptake flux of the soil co-vered by moss crust only and had no significant effects on N2O uptake flux of the soil covered by algae-lichen crust. In addition, CO2 fluxes of the two biocrusts were closely related to the soil temperature and soil moisture, thereby increasing with the raised soil surface temperature and soil moisture caused by sand burial. However, the relationships of burial-induced changes of soil temperature and moisture with the changes in the other two greenhouse gases fluxes were not evident, indicating that the variations of soil temperature and moisture caused by sand burial were not the key factors affecting the fluxes of CH4 and N2O of the soil covered by the two types of biocrusts.

Kurtzmanomyces shapotouensis sp. nov., an anamorphic, basidiomycetous yeast isolated from desert soil crusts.

Two yeast strains isolated from soil crusts in the Shapotou region of Tengger Desert (north-western China) were grouped in the genus Kurtzmanomyces based on morphological characteristics. rRNA gene sequence analyses (including the D1/D2 domain of the large subunit rRNA gene and internal transcribed spacer region) indicated that these two strains represented a novel species of the genus Kurtzmanomyces, for which the name Kurtzmanomyces shapotouensis sp. nov. is proposed (type strain: CPCC 300020(T) = DSM 26579(T) = CBS 12707(T)). The MycoBank number of the novel species is MB 804959.

Distribution, biomass, and dynamics of roots in a revegetated stand of Caragana korshinskii in the Tengger Desert, northwestern China.

A field experiment was conducted to investigate root distribution, biomass, and seasonal dynamics in a revegetated stand of Caragana korshinskii Kom. in the Tengger Desert. We used soil profile trenches, soil core sampling, and minirhizotron measurements to measure root dynamics. Results showed that the roots of C. korshinskii were distributed vertically in the uppermost portion of the soil profile, especially the coarse roots, which were concentrated in the upper 0.4 m. The horizontal distribution of the root length and weight of C. korshinskii coarse roots was concentrated within 0.6 and 0.4 m of the trunk, respectively. The lateral distribution of fine roots was more uniform than coarse roots. Total-root and fine-root biomasses were 662.4 +/- 45.8 and 361.1 +/- 10.3 g m(-2), accounting for about two-thirds and one-third of the total plant biomass, respectively. Fine-root turnover is closely affected by soil water, and both of these parameters showed synchronously seasonal trends during the growing season in 2004 and 2005. The interaction between fine-root turnover and soil water resulted in the fine-root length densities and soil water content in the 0- to 1.0-m soil layer having similar trends, but the soil water peaks occurred before those of the fine-root length densities.

[Effects of moss crust on soil seed bank at southeast edge of Tengger Desert].

An investigation was made on the soil seed bank at southeast edge of Tengger Desert with moss crust under natural and artificial vegetations. The results showed that the density of soil seed bank increased with the development of moss crust, which was 3.4 times higher under natural vegetation than under 24 years old artificial vegetation. In the seed bank, a total of 12 species belonging to 6 families were identified, among which, annuals occupied more than 70%. No perennial seeds were found under artificial vegetation, but under natural vegetation, 20% of the seeds were of perennials. As for semi-shrub seeds, they occupied 20% and 10% under artificial and natural, vegetation, respectively. Under artificial vegetation, the species richness index of soil seed bank was relatively lower, being about a half of that under natural vegetation. The species diversity index of the seed bank had a slight decrease with the development of moss crust under artificial vegetation, but increased to the maximum (0. 693) under natural vegetation. The species similarity index was 1 among the seed banks under artificial vegetations, and 0.4 between those under artificial and natural vegetation. The development of moss crust increased the roughness of surface soil and improved soil environment significantly, which could have positive effects on seed entrapment and plant establishment.