Biocrust restoration: a key tool to recover degraded arid ecosystem functioning

Castilla, Yolanda Cantón; Ramos, B.; Román, Raúl; Caballero, E. Rodríguez; Piedra, Sonia Chamizo de la

doi:10.7818/ecos.2236

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Differences between types of crust agree with what was obtained in other works ( Belnap and Warren, 2002 ; Dojani et al, 2011 ; Gypser et al, 2015 ; Williams et al, 2018 , Lorite et al, 2020 , among others). The recovery of the microbial crust ensures a certain stabilization of the soil, which favors the establishment of lichens ( Belnap and Büdel, 2016 ; Deng et al, 2020 ), reduces erosion ( Chamizo et al, 2012a ) and reduces the risk of degradation of these areas ( Belnap, 1995 ; Cantón et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, despite their apparent stability, the organisms of these communities, mainly lichen and mosses, are fragile. Changes in temperature, precipitation, or land use and disturbances such as trampling or grazing reduce biocrust cover significantly ( Maestre et al, 2013 ; Ferrenberg et al, 2015 ; Rodriguez-Caballero et al, 2018b ) and increase erosion, favoring the degradation of these areas ( Belnap, 1995 ; Cantón et al, 2021 ). The main threats to biocrusts are probably mechanical destruction by trampling, off-road vehicles or livestock, or land use change, when the ecosystem ceases to be natural.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Concern for the survival of these communities has led many researchers to determine how they can recover and how long they take to recover (Cantón et al, 2021). Researchers have studied biocrust restoration through inoculation with Cyanobacteria (e.g., Román et al, 2018Román et al, , 2021 with promising results.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Patterns in biocrust recovery over time in semiarid southeast Spain

Rubio

Lázaro

2023

Front. Microbiol.

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Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are communities of microorganisms, fungi, algae, lichens and mosses inhabiting on the soil surface and within the uppermost soil millimetres. They play an important ecological role in drylands, determining physical and chemical soil properties and reducing soil erosion. Studies on biocrust natural recovery establish highly variable recovery times. The different objectives and methodologies of experimentation and analysis, strongly influence these predictions. The main purpose of this research is to analyze the recovery dynamics of four biocrust communities and their relationship with microclimatic variables. In 2004, in Tabernas Desert, some of us removed the biocrust in central 30 cm × 30 cm area of three 50 cm × 50 cm plots in each of four biocrust communities (Cyanobacteria, Squamarina, Diploschistes, and Lepraria), installing a microclimatic station in each one with sensors for temperature and humidity of the soil and air, dew point, PAR and rain. Yearly, the 50 cm × 50 cm plots were photographed, and the cover of every species was monitored in every 5 cm × 5 cm cell of a 36-cells grid covering the removed central area. We analyzed different functions to fit the cover recovery, the differences in cover recovery speed between communities, the recovery dynamics from the spatial analysis of the plot, the changes in dissimilarity and biodiversity and the possible relationships with the climatic variables. The recovery of the biocrust cover fits to a sigmoidal function. The community dominated by Cyanobacteria developed faster than those dominated by lichens. The Squamarina and Diploschistes communities recovered faster than that of Lepraria and appears to be influenced by the surrounding undisturbed areas. Species-based dissimilarity between consecutive inventories fluctuated and decreased over time, while biodiversity increases in a similar way. The speed of recovery of the biocrust in each community, along with the order in which the species appeared, support the hypothesis about the succession, which would include three phases: firstly Cyanobacteria, then Diploschistes and/or Squamarina and finally Lepraria. The relationship between biocrust recovery and microclimate is complex and this work highlights the need to carry out further research on this topic and on biocrust dynamics in general.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Patterns in biocrust recovery over time in semiarid southeast Spain

Rubio

Lázaro

2023

Front. Microbiol.

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Optimizing survival and growth of inoculated biocrust-forming cyanobacteria through native plant-based habitat amelioration

Alameda-Martín,

Chamizo,

Maggioli

et al. 2024

Journal of Environmental Management

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Design Optimization of Biocrust-Plant Spatial Configuration for Dry Ecosystem Restoration Using Water Redistribution and Erosion Models

et al. 2022

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Land degradation is one of the main threats to dryland sustainability in the next decades, hence restoration of the degraded land from drylands is an urgent need to maintain ecosystem functionality and their ability to provide ecosystem services. To achieve this goal, restoration practices should pursue the recovery of the main ground components, arranged in an optimal spatial configuration, to mimic undisturbed natural conditions. Drylands function as complex ecohydrologically coupled systems in which interplant source areas, frequently covered by biocrusts, act as sources of runoff and nutrients to adjacent vegetation, which act as sinks for these resources. Thus, one way to increase dryland restoration success is through an optimal spatial configuration of biocrusts and plants that maximizes an efficient use of the limited resources within the system. In this study, we selected a degraded slope from a limestone quarry located in Almería province (SE Spain) and modeled how active restoration of the biocrust through soil inoculation with cyanobacteria and its combination with different spatial configurations of vegetation affected runoff redistribution and erosion. For that, we applied the spatially distributed Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) which was able to predict the erosion measured on the slope during the study period with low error (RMSE = 17.8%). Modeling results showed that the introduction of vegetation on the degraded slope reduced runoff between 2 and 24% and erosion between 4 and 17% for the scenario with plants compared to the one without restoration management. Of all the vegetation spatial configurations tested, the one that provided better results was the scenario in which plants were located in the areas of higher water accumulation (higher topographic wetness index). Moreover, we found that active biocrust restoration by cyanobacteria inoculation significantly reduced erosion by 70–90%, especially during the first stages of plant development, while maintaining water supply to vegetation. These findings highlight the potential of water redistribution and erosion simulation models to identify the most optimal spatial configuration of ground covers that maximizes water and nutrient supply to vegetation, while minimizes water, sediment, and nutrient losses by erosion, thus serving as an efficient tool to plan restoration actions in drylands.

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Biocrust restoration: a key tool to recover degraded arid ecosystem functioning

Cited by 4 publications

References 60 publications

Patterns in biocrust recovery over time in semiarid southeast Spain

Patterns in biocrust recovery over time in semiarid southeast Spain

Optimizing survival and growth of inoculated biocrust-forming cyanobacteria through native plant-based habitat amelioration

Design Optimization of Biocrust-Plant Spatial Configuration for Dry Ecosystem Restoration Using Water Redistribution and Erosion Models

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