A promising application of biodegradable glue to improve the efficiency of biocrust inoculation on mining tailings in Brazil

Abstract

The Fundão dam failure in Brazil stands as one of the most significant environmental disasters in global mining, causing extensive harm to soils and native vegetation. Despite ongoing restoration efforts, the potential of photosynthetic cryptogamic pioneer organisms, such as biocrusts, remains largely untapped. This study explores the inoculation of moss‐dominated biocrusts in mining tailings using a novel biodegradable glue technique. We began by assessing the diversity of mosses naturally occurring in these tailings, identifying six species. Among them, Hyophila involuta (Hook.) A. Jaeger emerged as the most suitable species for inoculation experiments. We compared the inoculation of biocrusts within the biodegradable glue bed to direct soil inoculation. Our findings revealed that 94.5% of the inoculated biocrusts adhered to the glue bed after 75 days, demonstrating the technique's global potential in overcoming challenges associated with moss inoculation. We emphasize the need for further research into the long‐term effects of biodegradable glue‐bed application on biocrust sustainability across different ecosystems, while also implementing habitat improvements to mitigate other environmental stress.