Bacteria and Non-lichenized Fungi Within Biological Soil Crusts

Maier, Stefanie; Muggia, Lucía; Kuske, Cheryl R.; Grube, Martín

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-30214-0_5

Cited by 25 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Biocrusts are inconspicuous communities, mainly dominated by photosynthesizing cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, or bryophytes that can survive during long drought periods in a dormant state and rapidly become active after small water pulses [2]. These traits allow biocrusts to fix a large amount of atmospheric carbon and nitrogen [3,4], which becomes incorporated within the upper layer of the soil to be used by heterotrophic fungi, bacteria, archaea [5], and other soil surface inhabitants [6,7]. As a result, they improve soil fertility [8] and other soil properties, such as surface stability and soil water retention capacity [9][10][11][12], preventing degradation processes and maintaining the ecosystem capacities to provide multiple services to society [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral Response Analysis: An Indirect and Non-Destructive Methodology for the Chlorophyll Quantification of Biocrusts

et al. 2019

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Chlorophyll a concentration (Chla) is a well-proven proxy of biocrust development, photosynthetic organisms' status, and recovery monitoring after environmental disturbances. However, laboratory methods for the analysis of chlorophyll require destructive sampling and are expensive and time consuming. Indirect estimation of chlorophyll a by means of soil surface reflectance analysis has been demonstrated to be an accurate, cheap, and quick alternative for chlorophyll retrieval information, especially in plants. However, its application to biocrusts has yet to be harnessed. In this study we evaluated the potential of soil surface reflectance measurements for non-destructive Chla quantification over a range of biocrust types and soils. Our results revealed that from the different spectral transformation methods and techniques, the first derivative of the reflectance and the continuum removal were the most accurate for Chla retrieval. Normalized difference values in the red-edge region and common broadband indexes (e.g., normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)) were also sensitive to changes in Chla. However, such approaches should be carefully adapted to each specific biocrust type. On the other hand, the combination of spectral measurements with non-linear random forest (RF) models provided very good fits (R 2 > 0.94) with a mean root mean square error (RMSE) of about 6.5 µg/g soil, and alleviated the need for a specific calibration for each crust type, opening a wide range of opportunities to advance our knowledge of biocrust responses to ongoing global change and degradation processes from anthropogenic disturbance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectral Response Analysis: An Indirect and Non-Destructive Methodology for the Chlorophyll Quantification of Biocrusts

et al. 2019

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“…They are now often included in the suite of microorganisms that comprise BSCs, primarily because of their contributions to the process of consolidating and stabilizing soil particles and aggregates (Caesar-TonThat and Cochran, 2001;States et al, 2001). Free-living fungi are found in greater abundance in well-developed BSCs than uncrusted neighboring soils (Maier et al, 2016). Although free-living fungi have been recognized as an important component of the BSC micro-community, research on free-living fungal communities in biocrusts has been limited and generally descriptive in nature (Bates and Garcia-Pichel, 2009;Bates et al, 2012;Steven et al, 2015).…”

Section: Free-living Fungimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although free-living fungi have been recognized as an important component of the BSC micro-community, research on free-living fungal communities in biocrusts has been limited and generally descriptive in nature (Bates and Garcia-Pichel, 2009;Bates et al, 2012;Steven et al, 2015). Ascomycota represents the predominant fungal phylum in BSCs (Maier et al, 2016). However, research has shown that the composition of BSC fungal communities differs based on soil types and geographical location (Reininger et al, 2015).…”

Section: Free-living Fungimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are two types of melanin produced by melanized fungi: 1,8-DHN melanin and L-Dopa melanin (Henson et al, 1999). Dark-septate fungi have also been suggested as contributors to nutrient links between desert vascular plants and the BSC community (Maier et al, 2016). As a result, free-living fungi have been proposed as an important component in the fungal loop hypothesis that suggests that nutrient exchange and the vascular plant-BSC connection may be mediated by fungi (Collins et al, 2008;Green et al, 2008).…”

Section: Free-living Fungimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, sexual reproduction is infrequent in many fungi, yet self-fertility is relatively common (Lee et al, 2010). In BSCs, free-living fungi are generally classified based on their asexual reproductive structures and confirmed more specifically by limited observations of sexual fruiting bodies (Maier et al, 2016). BSCs are dominated by Dothideomycetes fungi (Steven et al, 2015) which are most often found in their anamorph (asexual) state and are recognized as filamentous molds when cultured in the laboratory.…”

Section: Free-living Fungimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reproduction and Dispersal of Biological Soil Crust Organisms

et al. 2019

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Biological soil crusts (BSCs) consist of a diverse and highly integrated community of organisms that effectively colonize and collectively stabilize soil surfaces. BSCs vary in terms of soil chemistry and texture as well as the environmental parameters that combine to support unique combinations of organisms-including cyanobacteria dominated, lichen-dominated, and bryophyte-dominated crusts. The list of organismal groups that make up BSC communities in various and unique combinations include-free living, lichenized, and mycorrhizal fungi, chemoheterotrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria, diazotrophic bacteria and archaea, eukaryotic algae, and bryophytes. The various BSC organismal groups demonstrate several common characteristics including-desiccation and extreme temperature tolerance, production of various soil binding chemistries, a near exclusive dependency on asexual reproduction, a pattern of aerial dispersal over impressive distances, and a universal vulnerability to a wide range of human-related perturbations. With this publication, we provide literature-based insights as to how each organismal group contributes to the formation and maintenance of the structural and functional attributes of BSCs, how they reproduce, and how they are dispersed. We also emphasize the importance of effective application of molecular and microenvironment sampling and assessment tools in order to provide cogent and essential answers that will allow scientists and land managers to better understand and manage the biodiversity and functional relationships of soil crust communities.

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Potential complementary functions among bacteria, fungi, and archaea involved in carbon cycle during reversal of desertification

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2020

Land Degrad Dev

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Development of biological soil crusts (BSCs) on bare land is a sign of reversal of desertification, and microbial communities of BSCs are the biogeochemical engineers of desert ecosystems. However, regulation of different microbial groups involved in the carbon (C) cycle is not clear. This study investigated the correlation between bacteria, fungi, and archaea of BSCs involved in the C cycle during reversal of desertification through community abundance analysis by quantitative PCR and functional gene detection using GeoChip 5.0. Among the known C cycle genes found in BSCs, 84.5% of C degradation genes, 95% of C fixation genes, and all of methane oxidation genes were derived from bacteria owing to their highest proportion among the total microbial abundance of BSCs; some recalcitrant C degradation genes were derived from fungi; and other C fixation pathway and methanogenesis genes originated from archaea. The increased abundance of bacteria and fungi and decreased abundance of archaea during reversal of desertification, as well as the difference in C cycle genes of the three microbial groups, indicated the functional complementarity among these microorganisms involved in C cycle. At the early stage of BSC development, archaea, and bacteria provide available C sources by autotrophic CO2 fixation pathway; bacteria play important roles in C degradation, C fixation, and methane oxidation during the entire BSC development process; and fungi mainly degrade lignin at the later stage of BSC development. Thus, cooperation among BSC microflora altered C cycle during reversal of desertification.

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Bacteria and Non-lichenized Fungi Within Biological Soil Crusts

Cited by 25 publications

References 69 publications

Spectral Response Analysis: An Indirect and Non-Destructive Methodology for the Chlorophyll Quantification of Biocrusts

Spectral Response Analysis: An Indirect and Non-Destructive Methodology for the Chlorophyll Quantification of Biocrusts

Reproduction and Dispersal of Biological Soil Crust Organisms

Potential complementary functions among bacteria, fungi, and archaea involved in carbon cycle during reversal of desertification

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