Abstract
Aims
Cyanobacterial and algal communities have a large effect on biocrust formation and development. Biocrust species and abundance vary spatially and temporally due to different environmental factors. The relationships among cyanobacterial and algal communities, and biocrust function have been studied extensively. Lacking, however, are studies of temporal changes in a similar landscape where environmental conditions are similar, but where biocrust formation is different.
Methods
Biocrusts of different ages were located in the Loess Plateau in an area that had experienced a landslide. We examined changes in cyanobacterial and algal communities, carbon, nutrients, and the composition of dissolved organic matter in the topsoil, and the relationships among the community and soil characteristics using redundancy analysis.
Results
Phormidium tenue (Cyanophyta) dominated in all biocrusts, and co-dominated in a newly formed crust with Euglena sp. (Euglenophyta). Oscillatoria sp. (Cyanophyta) increased with biocrust age. Oscillatoria was positively correlated with carbon fixation and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) accumulation in topsoils.
Conclusions
While incubation of Phormidium tenue and Euglena sp. is suggested for rapid biocrust formation at an early stage, increasing the abundance of Phormidium tenue and Oscillatoria sp. can promote carbon fixation and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) accumulation, thereby accelerating biocrusts into a later stage.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- Chl-a:
-
Chlorophyll-a
- DOM:
-
Dissolved organic matter
- DOC:
-
Dissolved organic carbon
- FI:
-
Fluorescence index
- PARAFAC:
-
Parallel factor analysis
- RDA:
-
Redundancy analysis
- N:
-
Nitrogen
- P:
-
Phosphorus
- K:
-
Potassium
References
Anumol T, Sgroi M, Park M, Roccaro P, Snyder SA (2015) Predicting trace organic compound breakthrough in granular activated carbon using fluorescence and UV absorbance as surrogates. Water Res 76:76–87
Bååth E, Anderson TH (2003) Comparison of soil fungal/bacterial ratios in a pH gradient using physiological and PLFA-based techniques. Soil Biol Biochem 35:955–963
Baines SB, Pace ML (1991) The production of dissolved organic matter by phytoplankton and its importance to bacteria: patterns across marine and freshwater systems. Limnol Oceanogr 36:1078–1090
Bao S (2000) Soil agrochemical analysis. China Agriculture Press, Beijing
Belnap J (2003) The world at your feet: desert biological soil crusts. Front Ecol Environ 1:181–189
Belnap J, Gillette DA (1998) Vulnerability of desert biological soil crusts to wind erosion: the influences of crust development, soil texture, and disturbance. J Arid Environ 39:133–142
Bu CF, Zhang P, Wang C, Yang Y, Shao HB, Wu SF (2016) Spatial distribution of biological soil crusts on the slope of the Chinese Loess Plateau based on canonical correspondence analysis. Catena 137:373–381
Carson JL, Brown JRM (1976) The correlation of soil algae, airborne algae, and fern spores with meteorological conditions on the Island of Hawaii. Pac Sci 30:197–205
Chen W, Westerhoff P, Leenheer JA, Booksh K (2003) Fluorescence excitation- Emission matrix regional integration to quantify spectra for dissolved organic matter. Environ Sci Technol 37:5701–5710
Chen L, Xie Z, Hu C, Li D, Wang G, Liu Y (2006) Man-made desert algal crusts as affected by environmental factors in Inner Mongolia, China. J Arid Environ 67:521–527
Chen L, Yang Y, Deng S, Xu Y, Wang G, Liu Y (2012) The response of carbohydrate metabolism to the fluctuation of relative humidity (RH) in the desert soil cyanobacterium Phormidium tenue. Eur J Soil Biol 48:11–16
Cheng KY, Wong JWC (2006) Combined effect of nonionic surfactant Tween 80 and DOM on the behaviors of PAHs in soil-water system. Chemosphere 62:1907–1916
Chiquoine LP, Abella SR, Bowker MA (2016) Rapidly restoring biological soil crusts and ecosystem functions in a severely disturbed desert ecosystem. Ecol Appl 26:1260–1272
Eldridge DJ, Greene RSB (1994) Microbiotic soil crusts- a review of their roles in soil and ecological processes in the rangelands of Australia. Soil Res 32:389–415
Fellman JB, Hood E, Spencer RGM (2010) Fluorescence spectroscopy opens new windows into dissolved organic matter dynamics in freshwater ecosystems: a review. Limnol Oceanogr 55:2452–2462
Fischer T, Veste M, Schaaf W, Dumig A, Kogel-Knabner I, Wiehe W, Bens O, Huttl R (2010) Initial pedogenesis in a topsoil crust 3 years after construction of an artificial catchment in Brandenburg, NE Germany. Biogeochemistry 101:165–176
Gao L, Bowker MA, Xu M, Sun H, Tuo D, Zhao Y (2017) Biological soil crusts decrease erodibility by modifying inherent soil properties on the Loess Plateau, China. Soil Biol Biochem 105:49–58
Guo XJ, Xi BD, HB Y, Ma WC, He XS (2011) The structure and origin of dissolved organic matter studied by UV-vis spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy in lake in arid and semi-arid region. Water Sci Technol 63:1010–1017
Harper KT, Marble JR (1988) A role for nonvascular plants in management of arid and semiarid rangelands. In: Tueller PT (ed) Vegetation science applications for rangeland analysis and management. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Boston
Hu CX, Liu YD, Paulsen BS, Petersen D, Klaveness B (2003) Extracellular carbohydrate polymers from five desert soil algae with different cohesion in the stabilization of fine sand grain. Carbohydr Polym 54:33–42
Inamdar S, Finger N, Singh S, Mitchell M, Levia D, Bais H, Scott D, McHale P (2012) Dissolved organic matter (DOM) concentration and quality in a forested mid-Atlantic watershed, USA. Biogeochemistry 108:55–76
Jaffé R, McKnight D, Maie N, Cory R, McDowell WH, Campbell JL (2008) Spatial and temporal variations in DOM composition in ecosystems: the importance of long-term monitoring of optical properties. J Geophys Res-Biogeosci 113:15
Johnson SL, Neuer S, Garcia-Pichel F (2007) Export of nitrogenous compounds due to incomplete cycling within biological soil crusts of arid lands. Environ Microbiol 9:680–689
Kulasooriya SA, Magana-Arachchi DN (2016) Nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria: their diversity, ecology and utilisation with special reference to rice cultivation. J Natl Sci Found Sri Lanka 44:111–128
Lan SB, Wu L, Zhang DL, CX H (2012a) Composition of photosynthetic organisms and diurnal changes of photosynthetic efficiency in algae and moss crusts. Plant Soil 351:325–336
Lan SB, Wu L, Zhang DL, CX H (2012b) Successional stages of biological soil crusts and their microstructure variability in Shapotou region (China). Environ Earth Sci 65:77–88
Li M, Zhang A, Wu H, Liu H, Lv J (2017) Predicting potential release of dissolved organic matter from biochars derived from agricultural residues using fluorescence and ultraviolet absorbance. J Hazard Mater 334:86–92
Lichner L, Hallett PD, Drongova Z, Czachor H, Kovacik L, Mataix-Solera J, Homolak M (2013) Algae influence the hydrophysical parameters of a sandy soil. Catena 108:58–68
Liu YM, Li XR, Jia RL, Huang L, Zhou YY, Gao YH (2011) Effects of biological soil crusts on soil nematode communities following dune stabilization in the Tengger Desert, Northern China. Appl Soil Ecol 49:118–124
Lu F, Chang CH, Lee DJ, He PJ, Shao LM, Su A (2009) Dissolved organic matter with multi-peak fluorophores in landfill leachate. Chemosphere 74:575–582
Maqubela M, Mnkeni P, Issa OM, Pardo M, D’Acqui L (2009) Nostoc cyanobacterial inoculation in South African agricultural soils enhances soil structure, fertility, and maize growth. Plant Soil 315:79–92
McIntyre AM, Gueguén C (2013) Binding interactions of algal-derived dissolved organic matter with metal ions. Chemosphere 90:620–626
McKnight DM, Boyer EW, Westerhoff PK, Doran PT, Kulbe T, Andersen DT (2001) Spectrofluorometric characterization of dissolved organic matter for indication of precursor organic material and aromaticity. Limnol Oceanogr 46:38–48
Mikhailyuk TI, Demchenko EM, Kondratyuk SY (2003) Algae of granite outcrops from the left bank of the river Pivdennyi Bug (Ukraine). Biologia 58:589–601
Nagy ML, Perez A, Garcia-Pichel F (2005) The prokaryotic diversity of biological soil crusts in the Sonoran Desert (Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ). FEMS Microbiol Ecol 54:233–245
Osburn CL, Handsel LT, Mikan MP, Paerl HW, Montgomery MT (2012) Fluorescence tracking of dissolved and particulate organic matter quality in a river-dominated estuary. Environ Sci Technol 46:8628–8636
Pietrasiak N, Regus JU, Johansen JR, Lam D, Sachs JL, Santiago LS (2013) Biological soil crust community types differ in key ecological functions. Soil Biol Biochem 65:168–171
Pifer AD, Fairey JL (2012) Improving on SUVA254 using fluorescence-PARAFAC analysis and asymmetric flow-field flow fractionation for assessing disinfection byproduct formation and control. Water Res 46:2927–2936
Price CA, Reardon EM (1982) Isolation of chloroplasts for protein synthesis from spinach and Euglena gracilis by centrifugation in silica soils. In: Edelman M, Hallick RB, Chua NH (eds) Methods in chloroplast molecular biology. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Reynaud PA, Lumpkin TA (1988) Microalgae of the Lanzhou (China) cryptogamic crust. Arid Land. Res Manag 2:145–155
Stedmon CA, Bro R (2008) Characterizing dissolved organic matter fluorescence with parallel factor analysis: a tutorial. Limnol Oceanogr-Meth 6:572–579
Stedmon CA, Markager S (2005) Resolving the variability in dissolved organic matter fluorescence in a temperate estuary and its catchment using PARAFAC analysis. Limnol Oceanogr 50:686–697
Wang Z-g, Liu W-q, Zhao N-j, H-b L, Zhang Y-j, Si-Ma W-c, J-g L (2007) Composition analysis of colored dissolved organic matter in Taihu Lake based on three dimension excitation-emission fluorescence matrix and PARAFAC model, and the potential application in water quality monitoring. J Environ Sci 19:787–791
Wang WB, Liu YD, Li DH, Hu CX, Rao BQ (2009) Feasibility of cyanobacterial inoculation for biological soil crusts formation in desert area. Soil Biol Biochem 41:926–929
Weishaar JL, Aiken GR, Bergamaschi BA, Fram MS, Fujii R, Mopper K (2003) Evaluation of specific ultraviolet absorbance as an indicator of the chemical composition and reactivity of dissolved organic carbon. Environ Sci Technol 37:4702–4708
West NE (1990) Structure and function of microphytic soil crusts in wildland ecosystems of arid to semi-arid regions. Adv Ecol Res 20:179–223
Williams CJ, Yamashita Y, Wilson HF, Jaffe R, Xenopoulos MA (2010) Unraveling the role of land use and microbial activity in shaping dissolved organic matter characteristics in stream ecosystems. Limnol Oceanogr 55:1159–1171
Wu YW, Rao BQ, Wu PP, Liu YD, Li GB, Li DH (2013) Development of artificially induced biological soil crusts in fields and their effects on top soil. Plant Soil 370:115–124
Wu L, Xu L, Hu C (2015) The microalgae and their community structure in Xinjing Area. Acta Hydrobiologica Sinica 39:1207–1216
Xu HC, Cai HY, Yu GH, Jiang HL (2013) Insights into extracellular polymeric substances of cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa using fractionation procedure and parallel factor analysis. Water Res 47:2005–2014
Yamashita Y, Maie N, Briceño H, Jaffé R (2010) Optical characterization of dissolved organic matter in tropical rivers of the Guayana Shield, Venezuela. J Geophys Res Biogeosci 115. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009JG000987
Ye LL, Wu XD, Liu B, Yan DZ, Kong FX (2015) Dynamics of dissolved organic carbon in eutrophic Lake Taihu and its tributaries and their implications for bacterial abundance during autumn and winter. J Freshw Ecol 30:129–142
Zaady E, Kuhn U, Wilske B, Sandoval-Soto L, Kesselmeier J (2000) Patterns of CO2 exchange in biological soil crusts of successional age. Soil Biol Biochem 32:959–966
Zhang BC, Kong WD, Wu N, Zhang YM (2016) Bacterial diversity and community along the succession of biological soil crusts in the Gurbantunggut Desert, Northern China. J Basic Microbiol 56:670–679
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge financial support from the scientific research and service platform fund of Henan Province (2016151), the funding from scientific and technological innovation team of water ecological security for Water Source Region of Mid-line of South-to-North Diversion Project of Henan Province, the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities (Northwest A&F University, Grant No. 2452015049; 2452015354) and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC, Project No. 41601324). We would also like to express great appreciation to the anonymous reviewers and the editor for thoughtful and professional comments and suggestions.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: David John Eldridge
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, Y., Duan, P., Zhang, P. et al. Variations in cyanobacterial and algal communities and soil characteristics under biocrust development under similar environmental conditions. Plant Soil 429, 241–251 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3443-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3443-2