Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.5141/jee.21.00082

Biological soil crusts impress vegetation patches and fertile islands over an arid pediment, Iran  

Sepehr, Adel (Department of Desert and Arid Zones Management, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad)
Hosseini, Asma (Department of Desert and Arid Zones Management, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad)
Naseri, Kamal (Department of Rangelands and Watershed Management, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad)
Gholamhosseinian, Atoosa (Department of Desert and Arid Zones Management, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad)
Publication Information
Journal of Ecology and Environment / v.46, no.1, 2022 , pp. 31-40 More about this Journal
Abstract
Background: Plant vegetation appears in heterogeneous and patchy forms in arid and semi-arid regions. In these regions, underneath the plant patches and the empty spaces between them are covered by biological soil crusts (moss, lichen, cyanobacteria, and fungi). Biological soil crusts lead to the formation and development of fertile islands in between vegetation patches via nitrogen and carbon fixation and the permeation of runoff water and nutrients in the soil. Results: The present study has investigated the association of biological soil crusts, the development of fertile islands, and the formation of plant patches in part of the Takht-e Soltan protected area, located in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. Three sites were randomly selected as the working units and differentiated based on their geomorphological characteristics to the alluvial fan, hillslope, and fluvial terrace landforms. Two-step systematic random sampling was conducted along a 100-meter transect using a 5 m2 plot at a 0-5 cm depth in three repetitions. Fifteen samplings were carried out at each site with a total of 45 samples taken. The results showed that the difference in altitude has a significant relationship with species diversity and decreases with decreasing altitude. Results have revealed that the moisture content of the site, with biocrust has had a considerable increase compared to the other sites, helping to form vegetation patterns and fertile islands. Conclusions: The findings indicated that biological crusts had impacted the allocation of soil parameters. They affect the formation of plant patches by increasing the soil's organic carbon, nitrogen, moisture and nutrient content provide a suitable space for plant growth by increasing the soil fertility in the inter-patch space.
Keywords
biological soil crusts; fertile islands; soil physicochemical parameters; vegetation patches;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Campbell SE. Soil stabilization by a prokaryotic desert crust: implications for Precambrian land biota. In: Ponnamperuma C, Margulis L, editors. Limits of life. Dordrecht: D. Reidel Publishing Company; 1980. p. 85-98.
2 Toranjzar H, Abedi M, Ahmadi A, Ahmadi Z. Assessment of rangeland condition (health) in Meyghan desert of Arak. Rangeland. 2009;3(2):259-71.
3 Niu J, Yang K, Tang Z, Wang Y. Relationships between soil crust development and soil properties in the desert region of North China. Sustainability. 2017;9(5):725. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9050725.   DOI
4 Miralles I, Trasar-Cepeda C, Leiros MC, Gil-Sotres F. Labile carbon in biological soil crusts in the Tabernas desert, SE Spain. Soil Biol Biochem. 2013;58:1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2012.11.010.   DOI
5 Munoz-Rojas M, Roman JR, Roncero-Ramos B, Erickson TE, Merritt DJ, Aguila-Carricondo P, et al. Cyanobacteria inoculation enhances carbon sequestration in soil substrates used in dryland restoration. Sci Total Environ. 2018;636:1149-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.265.   DOI
6 Hayat MA, Abd Kudus K, Faridah-Hanum I, Awang Noor AG, Nazre M. Assessment of plant species diversity at Pasir Tengkorak Forest Reserve, Langkawi Island, Malaysia. J Agric Sci. 2010;2(1):31-8. https://doi.org/10.5539/jas.v2n1p31.   DOI
7 Ludwig JA, Bastin GN, Chewings VH, Eager RW, Liedloff AC. Leakiness: a new index for monitoring the health of arid and semiarid landscapes using remotely sensed vegetation cover and elevation data. Ecol Indic. 2007;7(2):442-54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2006.05.001.   DOI
8 McCune B, Divakar PK, Upreti DK. Hypogymnia in the Himalayas of India and Nepal. Lichenologist. 2012;44(5):595-609. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0024282912000321.   DOI
9 O'Callaghan A, van Sinderen D. Bifidobacteria and their role as members of the human gut microbiota. Front Microbiol. 2016;7:925. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00925.   DOI
10 Rosentreter R, Bowker M, Belnap J. A field guide to biological soil crusts of western U.S. drylands: common lichens and bryophytes. Denver: U.S. Government Printing Office; 2007.
11 Shannon CE. A mathematical theory of communication. Bell Syst Tech J. 1948;27(3):379-423. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x.   DOI
12 Temina M, Nevo E. Lichens of Israel: diversity, ecology, and distribution. BioRisk. 2009;3:127. https://doi.org/10.3897/biorisk.3.25.   DOI
13 Sepehr A, Hassanzadeh M, Rodriguez-Caballero E. The protective role of cyanobacteria on soil stability in two Aridisols in northeastern Iran. Geoderma Reg. 2019;16:e00201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geodrs.2018.e00201.   DOI
14 Wierzchos J, de los Rios A, Ascaso C. Microorganisms in desert rocks: the edge of life on Earth. Int Microbiol. 2012;15(4):173-83. https://doi.org/10.2436/20.1501.01.170.   DOI
15 Belnap J, Budel B, Lange OL. Biological soil crusts: characteristics and distribution. In: Belnap J, Lange OL, editors. Biological soil crusts: structure, function, and management. Berlin: Springer; 2001. p. 3-30.
16 Thompson DB, Walker LR, Landau FH, Stark LR. The influence of elevation, shrub species, and biological soil crust on fertile islands in the Mojave Desert, USA. J Arid Environ. 2005;61(4):609-29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2004.09.013.   DOI
17 Belnap J, Gardner JS. Soil microstructure in soils of the Colorado Plateau: the role of the cyanobacterium Microcoleus vaginatus. Great Basin Nat. 1993;53(1):40-7.
18 Williams AJ, Buck BJ, Soukup DA, Merkler DJ. Geomorphic controls on biological soil crust distribution: a conceptual model from the Mojave Desert (USA). Geomorphology. 2013;195:99-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.04.031.   DOI
19 Verrecchia E, Yair A, Kidron GJ, Verrecchia K. Physical properties of the psammophile cryptogamic crust and their consequences to the water regime of sandy soils, north-western Negev Desert, Israel. J Arid Environ. 1995;29(4):427-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-1963(95)80015-8.   DOI
20 Whalen JK, Chang C. Macroaggregate characteristics in cultivated soils after 25 annual manure applications. Soil Sci Soc Am J. 2002;66(5):1637-47. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2002.1637.   DOI
21 Zedda L. Lecanora leuckertiana sp. nov. (lichenized Ascomycetes, Lecanorales) from Italy, Greece, Morocco and Spain. Nova Hedwig. 2000;71(1-2):107-12. https://doi.org/10.1127/nova/71/2000/107.   DOI
22 Zhang Y, Aradottir AL, Serpe M, Boeken B. Interactions of biological soil crusts with vascular plants. In: Weber B, Budel B, Belnap J, editors. Biological soil crusts: an organizing principle in drylands. Cham: Springer; 2016. p. 385-406.
23 Bowker MA, Maestre FT, Escolar C. Biological crusts as a model system for examining the biodiversity-ecosystem function relationship in soils. Soil Biol Biochem. 2010;42(3):405-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2009.10.025.   DOI
24 Beymer RJ, Klopatek JM. Potential contribution of carbon by microphytic crusts in pinyon-juniper woodlands. Arid Soil Res Rehabil. 1991;5(3):187-98. https://doi.org/10.1080/15324989109381279.   DOI
25 Bouyoucos GJ. Hydrometer method improved for making particle size analyses of soils. Agron J. 1962;54(5):464-5. https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1962.00021962005400050028x.   DOI
26 Bowker MA, Koch GW, Belnap J, Johnson NC. Nutrient availability affects pigment production but not growth in lichens of biological soil crusts. Soil Biol Biochem. 2008;40(11):2819-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2008.08.002.   DOI
27 Bremner J, Mulvaney C. Nitrogen-total. In: Page AL, editor. Methods of soil analysis: part 2 chemical and microbiological properties, 9.2.2. 2nd ed. Madison: American Society of Agronomy; 1983. p. 595-624.
28 Condon LA, Pyke DA. Fire and grazing influence site resistance to Bromus tectorum through their effects on shrub, bunchgrass and biocrust communities in the Great Basin (USA). Ecosystems. 2018;21(7):1416-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-018-0230-8.   DOI
29 Gholamhosseinian A, Sepehr A, Lajayer BA, Delangiz N, Astatkie T. Biological soil crusts to keep soil alive, rehabilitate degraded soil, and develop soil habitats. In: Vaishnav A, Choudhary DK, editors. Microbial polymers. Singapore: Springer; 2021a. p. 289-309.
30 Harper KT, Belnap J. The influence of biological soil crusts on mineral uptake by associated vascular plants. J Arid Environ. 2001;47(3):347-57. https://doi.org/10.1006/jare.2000.0713.   DOI
31 Belnap J, Budel B. Biological soil crusts as soil stabilizers. In: Weber B, Budel B, Belnap J, editors. Biological soil crusts: an organizing principle in drylands. Cham: Springer; 2016. p. 305-20.
32 Bonanomi G, Rietkerk M, Dekker SC, Mazzoleni S. Islands of fertility induce co-occurring negative and positive plant-soil feedbacks promoting coexistence. Plant Ecol. 2008;197(2):207-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-007-9371-0.   DOI
33 Chamizo S, Canton Y, Lazaro R, Sole-Benet A, Domingo F. Crust composition and disturbance drive infiltration through biological soil crusts in semiarid ecosystems. Ecosystems. 2012;15(1):148-61. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9499-6.   DOI
34 Mingorance MD, Barahona E, Fernandez-Galvez J. Guidelines for improving organic carbon recovery by the wet oxidation method. Chemosphere. 2007;68(3):409-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.01.021.   DOI
35 Belnap J. The potential roles of biological soil crusts in dryland hydrologic cycles. Hydrol Process. 2006;20(15):3159-78. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.6325.   DOI
36 Belnap J. The world at your feet: desert biological soil crusts. Front Ecol Environ. 2003;1(4):181-9. https://doi.org/10.1890/1540-9295(2003)001[0181:TWAYFD]2.0.CO;2.   DOI
37 Bolling JD, Walker LR. Fertile island development around perennial shrubs across a Mojave desert chronosequence. West N Am Nat. 2002;62(1):88-100.
38 Danin A, Ganor E. Trapping of airborne dust by mosses in the Negev Desert, Israel. Earth Surf Process Landf. 1991;16(2):153-62. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.3290160206.   DOI
39 Gholamhosseinian A, Sepehr A, Emadodin I. The effects of biocrusts on soil parameters in a semi-arid pediment at north-eastern Iran. Rev Geomorfol. 2020;22(1):5-19. https://doi.org/10.21094/rg.2020.094.   DOI
40 Eldridge DJ, Greene RS. Microbiotic soil crusts - a review of their roles in soil and ecological processes in the rangelands of Australia. Aust J Soil Res. 1994;32(3):389-415. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR9940389.   DOI
41 Gholamhosseinian A, Sepehr A, Sohrabi M, Emadodin I. Assessing the role of lichens in the prevention of dust emission in dryland: case study at north-eastern Iran. Aeolian Res. 2021b;50:100697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeolia.2021.100697.   DOI
42 Goldstein JI, Newbury DE, Michael JR, Ritchie NWM, Scott JHJ, Joy DC. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis. 4th ed. New York: Springer; 2018.
43 Simpson EH. Measurement of diversity. Nature. 1949;163:688. https://doi.org/10.1038/163688a0.   DOI
44 Kleiner EF, Harper KT. Environment and community organization in grasslands of Canyonlands National Park. Ecology. 1972;53(2):299-309. https://doi.org/10.2307/1934086.   DOI
45 Nelson DW, Sommers LE. Total carbon, organic carbon, and organic matter. In: Sparks DL, Page AL, Helmke PA, Loeppert RH, Soltanpour PN, Tabatabai MA, et al. editors. Methods of soil analysis: part 3 chemical methods, 5.3. Madison: Soil Science Society of America; 1996. p. 961-1010.
46 Olsen SR. Estimation of available phosphorus in soils by extraction with sodium bicarbonate. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Agriculture; 1954.
47 Rayment GE, Lyons DJ. Soil chemical methods: Australasia. Collingwood: CSIRO Publishing; 2011.
48 Schlesinger WH, Reynolds JF, Cunningham GL, Huenneke LF, Jarrell WM, Virginia RA, et al. Biological feedbacks in global desertification. Science. 1990;247(4946):1043-8. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.247.4946.1043.   DOI
49 Hassanzadeh Bashtian M, Sepehr A, Farzam M, Bahreini M. Distribution of biological soil crust along surface evolution of an arid alluvial fan. Res Earth Sci. 2018;9(1):1-13. https://doi.org/10.29252/esrj.9.1.1.   DOI
50 Hashtroudi MS, Shariatmadari Z, Riahi H, Ghassempour A. Analysis of Anabaena vaginicola and Nostoc calcicola from Northern Iran, as rich sources of major carotenoids. Food Chem. 2013;136(3-4):1148-53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.09.055.   DOI
51 Jimenez AA, Huber-Sannwald E, Belnap J, Smart DR, Arredondo MJT. Biological soil crusts exhibit a dynamic response to seasonal rain and release from grazing with implications for soil stability. J Arid Environ. 2009;73(12):1158-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2009.05.009.   DOI
52 Kheirfam H. Increasing soil potential for carbon sequestration using microbes from biological soil crusts. J Arid Environ. 2020;172:104022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.104022.   DOI
53 Knudsen D, Peterson GA, Pratt PF. Lithium, sodium, and potassium. In: Page AL, editor. Methods of soil analysis: part 2 chemical and microbiological properties, 9.2.2. 2nd ed. Madison: American Society of Agronomy; 1983. p. 225-46.
54 Lax A, Diaz E, Castillo V, Albaladejo J. Reclamation of physical and chemical properties of a salinized soil by organic amendment. Arid Soil Res Rehabil. 1994;8(1):9-17.
55 Maestre FT, Bowker MA, Canton Y, Castillo-Monroy AP, Cortina J, Escolar C, et al. Ecology and functional roles of biological soil crusts in semi-arid ecosystems of Spain. J Arid Environ. 2011;75(12):1282-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2010.12.008.   DOI
56 Mager DM, Thomas AD. Extracellular polysaccharides from cyanobacterial soil crusts: a review of their role in dryland soil processes. J Arid Environ. 2011;75(2):91-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2010.10.001.   DOI
57 Tongway DJ, Ludwig JA, Whitford WG. Mulga log mounds: fertile patches in the semi-arid woodlands of eastern Australia. Aust J Ecol. 1989;14(3):263-8. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1989.tb01436.x.   DOI
58 Walker LR, Thompson DB, Landau FH. Experimental manipulations of fertile islands and nurse plant effects in the Mojave Desert, USA. West N Am Nat. 2001;61(1):25-35.
59 DeFalco LA. Influence of cryptobiotic soil crusts on annual plants and foraging movements of the desert tortoise in the northeast Mojave Desert [Doctoral dissertation]. Fort Collins: Colorado State University; 1995.
60 Zhao HL, Guo YR, Zhou RL, Drake S. Biological soil crust and surface soil properties in different vegetation types of Horqin Sand Land, China. CATENA. 2010;82(2):70-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2010.05.002.   DOI