Crust Composition and Disturbance Drive Infiltration Through Biological Soil Crusts in Semiarid Ecosystems

Biological soil crusts cause subcritical water repellency in a sand dune ecosystem located along a rainfall gradient in the NW Negev desert, Israel

“…infiltration rates on BSCs were reported to depend on the soil water content. Chamizo et al (2012) found a decrease in infiltration rates from dry to wet crusts, indicating the clogging of pores. We could not observe significant differences in RI or K between the dry and the wet crusts.…”

Climate change and physical disturbance cause similar community shifts in biological soil crusts

“…This switch in nitrogen forms can translate to nitrogen being more easily lost through leaching and directly to the atmosphere (57) and can have strong influences on multiple process rates in dryland ecosystems (58,59). Early successional biocrusts are also more prone to erosion, dust production, and reduced water infiltration, which can have complex, long-lasting effects on local ecosystem processes (25,32,60,61). Thus, drivers that push biocrust communities to earlier successional states-here shown to be both physical and climate disturbance factors-have important implications for soil stability, fertility, and carbon storage, each of which is globally relevant for the extensive dryland biome.…”

Climatic and soil texture threshold values for cryptogamic cover development: a meta analysis

“…4, Table 4), we selected mean annual temperature (BIO1), temperature annual range (BIO7), mean temperature of wettest quarter (BIO8), annual precipitation Fig. 9, samples "Lieberose Crest", "Lieberose Slope", "Lieberose Base", "Nizzana Crest", "Nizzana Slope", "Nizzana Base" Concostrina- Zubiri et al (2013) Data from Table 4, samples "EX", "LI", "MI", "HI" Chamizo et al (2011) Data from Table 2, samples "El Cautivo P", "El Cautivo IC", "El Cautivo C", "El Cautivo L", "Las Amoladeras C", "Las Amoladeras L", "Las Amoladeras M" Beraldi-Campesi et al (2009) Data from Table 1, samples "CP1", "CP2", "CP3", "SD8, "SD9", "SD18" Spröte et al (2010) Data from Figures 7 and 10, samples "H1", "H2", "H3", "L1", "L2", "L3" (L -Lugteich, H -Huehnerwasser) Kuske et al (2012) Data from Table 1 and Figure 1b, samples "Arches untrampled", "Arches trampled", "ISKY-1 untrampled", "ISKY-1 trampled", "ISKY-2 untrampled", "ISKY-2 trampled" Herrick et al (2010) Data from Table 2, samples "H1", "H2", "H3", "L1", "L2", "L3" (L -Low, H -High) Muscha & Hild (2006) Location coordinates from Figure 1 using Google Earth, Textures from Table 1, Biomass and crust types from Figure 3, samples "BigTrails in", "PoisonSpider in", "Donlin in", "PowderRim in", "LanderAnt in", "WorlandCattle in", "SandCreek in", "RankinBasin in", "RedWash2 in" Dougill & Thomas (2004) Location coordinates from Figure 1 using Google Earth, data from Table 1, samples "Makoba", "Molopo", "Omaheke rangelands", "Omaheke ranch", "Berry Bush" Kidron et al (2010) Data from Table 2, samples "Early succession", "Late succession" Thomas et al (2002) Location coordinates from Figure 1 using Google Earth, data from Table 1 and Table 3, samples Kalahari "Sands Bio 1", "Kalahari Sands Bio 2", "Ironstone Ridge Bio 1", "Ironstone Ridge Bio 2", "Ironstone Ridge Bio 3", "Ironstone Colluvium Bio 1", "Ironstone Colluvium Bio 2", "Ironstone Colluvium Bio 3", "Valley Alluvium Bio 1", "Valley Alluvium Bio 2", "Valley Alluvium Bio 3", "Calcrete Colluvium Bio 1", "Calcrete Colluvium Bio 2", "Calcrete Colluvium Bio 3", "Calcrete Ridge Bio 1", "Calcrete Ridge Bio 2", "Calcrete Ridge Bio 3" Abed et al (2010) Location coordinates from Figure 1 using Google Earth, data from Tables 1 and …”

“…Pluis et al (1994), Lan et al (2012) Chamizo et al (2011) to combat desertification by managing soil crusts, including promoting the development and restoration of areas of soil crust (Bowker 2007;Belnap & Eldridge 2001;Wang et al 2009). Recovery rates of biocrusts are "dependent on many factors, including the type, severity, and extent of disturbance; structure of the vascular plant community; conditions of adjoining substrates; availability of inoculation material; and climate during and after disturbance" (Belnap & Eldridge 2001).…”