Biological Soil Crust and Vascular Plant Communities in a Sand Savanna of Northwestern Ohio

Abstract

A survey of biological crust components (bryophytes, lichens, chlorophyta, bacteria), soil fauna (nematodes, collembolans, mites) and vascular plants was conducted in a dry sand savanna in northwestern Ohio between 1995 and 2001. In soil, six free-living chlorophytes and seven cyanobacteria taxa were identified. Chlorophyta were more abundant than cyanobacteria with Desmococcus olivaeus and Stichococcus bacillaris being the most common species. For bryophytes, the most common species were Polytrichum piliferum and Ceratodon purpureus, and for lichens, Cladonia species. Notably, we found lichen species in the crusts have chlorophytes not cyanobacteria, as their photobionts. Twenty-seven families and 29 genera of nematodes, and four collembolan species were identified in crust and rhizosphere communities. Autotrophic denitrifying bacteria were not detectable with the method employed. The biological crust occurred among a vascular plant community with Robinia pseudoacacia, Rubus flagellaris, Bromus inermis, and Vicia villosa as the most abundant tree, shrub, graminoid, and non-grass herbaceous plants, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first report of microbial crust community composition in xeric patches of northwestern Ohio. Moreover, our report includes a report of soil nematode or collembolan communities associated with soil biological crust communities.

Soil nematode communities are ecologically more mature beneath late- than early-successional stage biological soil crusts

“…Biological soil crusts often dominate the living cover in arid to semi-arid lands, but can also occur in temperate areas where soil structure or fertility inhibits vascular plant cover, e.g., dry sand savanna (Neher et al, 2003). Biological soil crusts mediate biotic and abiotic conditions supporting life in many extreme environments (Belnap et al, 2003).…”

Biological Soil Crust effects and responses in arid ecosystems: recent advances at the species level

“…De esta manera, la presencia de la CBS facilita o limita la germinación de semillas, según la especie de CBS y de planta (Serpe et al 2006;Escudero et al 2007;Langhans et al 2009). Finalmente, la CBS interacciona con otros microorganismos y microfauna del suelo, ya que les proporciona recursos y un hábitat potencial (Neher et al 2003;Bamforth 2004;Castillo-Monroy et al 2011b). Es por ello, que la CBS ha sido considerada como un "ingeniero ecosistémico" y "elemento clave" en ambientes áridos y semiáridos (Eldridge et al 2010;Miller et al 2011).…”

Temperate biocrusts: mesic counterparts to their better‐known dryland cousins

“…Diverse biocrusts dominated by algae, cyanobacteria, bryophytes, and lichens have been documented in the US Midwest (eg Iowa [Schulten ], northwestern Ohio [Neher et al . ], northern Indiana [Thiet et al . ], and Wisconsin [WDNR ]), the US Northeast (eg Cape Cod [Smith et al .…”