Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Environmental determinants of biocrust carbon fluxes across Europe: possibilities for a functional type approach

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
Plant and Soil Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background and aims

Due to the well-known importance of biocrusts for several ecosystem properties linked to soil functionality, we aim to go deeper into the physiological performance of biocrusts components. Possible functional convergences in the physiology of biocrust constituents would facilitate the understanding of both species and genus distributional patterns and improve the possibility of modelling their response to climate change.

Methods

We measured gas exchange in the laboratory under controlled conditions of lichen- and moss-dominated biocrusts from four environmentally different locations in Europe. Field data were used to determine the natural hydration sources that drive metabolic activity of biocrusts.

Results

Our results show different activity drivers at the four sites. Within site analyses showed similar C fixation for the different crust types in the three sites without hydric stress whilst light use related parameters and respiration at 15 °C were similar in the between sites analyses. There were significant differences in water relations between the biocrusts types, with moss-dominated crusts showing higher maximum and optimum water contents.

Conclusions

The functional type approach for biocrusts can be justified from a physiological perspective when similar values are found in the within and between site analyses, the latter indicating habitat independent adaptation patterns. Our multi-site analyses for biocrusts functional performance provide comparisons of C fluxes and water relations in the plant-soil interface that will help to understand the adaptation ability of these communities to possible environmental changes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Belnap J, Büdel B, Lange OL (2003) Biological soil crusts: characteristics and distribution. In: Belnap J, Lange OL (eds) Biological soil crusts: structure, function and management. Springer, Berlin, Germany, pp 3–30

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bowker MA, Maestre FT, Eldridge D, Belnap J, Castillo-Monroy A, Escolar C, Soliveres S (2014) Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) as a model system in community, landscape and ecosystem ecology. Biodivers Conserv 23:1619–1637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bu C, Li R, Wang C, Bowker M (2017) Successful field cultivation of moss biocrusts on disturbed soil surfaces in the short term. Plant Soil. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-017-3453-0

  • Büdel B, Colesie C, Green TGA, Grube M, Suau RL et al (2014) Improved appreciation of the functioning and importance of biological soil crusts in Europe: the soil crust International project (SCIN). Biodivers Conserv 23:1639–1658

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Cantón Y, Solé-Benet A, Domingo F (2004) Temporal and spatial patterns of soil moisture in semi-arid badlands of SE Spain. J Hydrol 285:199–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapin ESIII, Matson PA, Mooney H (2002) Principles of terrestrial ecosystem ecology. Springer-Verlag, New York, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Colesie C, Green TGA, Haferkamp I, Büdel B (2014) Habitat stress initiates changes in composition, CO2 gas exchange and C-allocation as life traits in biological soil crusts. ISME J 8:2104–2115

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Colesie C, Williams L, Büdel B (2017) Water relations in the soil crust lichen Psora decipiens are optimized via anatomical variability. Lichenologist 49:483–492. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0024282917000354

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Darby BJ, Neher DA (2016) Microfauna within biological soil crusts. In: Weber B, Büdel B, Belnap J (eds) Biological soil crusts: an organizing principle in drylands. Springer, berlin, pp 139–157

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado-Baquerizo M, Gallardo A, Covelo F, Prado-Comesaña A, Ochoa V, Maestre FT (2015) Differences in thallus chemistry are related to species-specific effects of biocrust-forming lichens on soil nutrients and microbial communities. Funct Ecol 29:1087–1098

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado-Baquerizo M, Maestre FT, Eldridge DJ, Bowker MA, Ochoa V, Gozalo B, Berdugo M, Val J, Singh BK (2016) Biocrust-forming mosses mitigate the negative impacts of increasing aridity on ecosystem multifunctionality in drylands. New Phytol 209:1540–1552

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dojani S, Büdel B, Deutschewitz K, Weber B (2011) Rapid succession of biological soil crusts after experimental disturbance in the succulent Karoo, South Africa. Appl Soil Ecol 48:263–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrenberg S, Reed SC, Belnap J (2015) Climate change and physical disturbance cause similar community shifts in biological soil crusts. PNAS 112:12116–12121

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • García-Pichel F, Belnap J (2003) Small scale environments and distribution of biological soil crusts. In: Belnap J, Lange OL (eds) Biological soil crusts: structure, function and management. Springer, Berlin, pp 193–201

    Google Scholar 

  • Gitay H, Noble IR (1997) What are functional types and how should we seek them. In: Smith TM, Shugart HH, Woodward, FI (eds) plant functional types: their relevance to ecosystem properties and global change. Cambridge University press, Cambridge, pp 3–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Green TGA, Lange OL (1995) Photosynthesis in poikilohydric plants: a comparison of lichens and bryophytes. In: Schulze ED, Caldwell MM (eds) Ecophysiology of photosynthesis. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp 319–341

  • Green TGA, Büdel B, Meyer A, Zellner H, Lange OL (1997) Temperate rainforest lichens in New Zealand: light response of photosynthesis. NZ J Bot 35:493–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green TGA, Proctor MC (2016) Physiology of photosynthetic organisms within biological soil crusts: their adaptation, flexibility, and plasticity. In: Weber B, Büdel B, Belnap J (eds) Biological soil crusts: an organizing principle in drylands. Springer, berlin, pp 347–381

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Green TGA, Pintado A, Raggio J, Sancho LG (2017) The lifestyle of lichens in soil crusts. The Lichenologist (accepted)

  • Grote EE, Belnap J, Housman DC, Sparks JP (2010) Carbon exchange in biological soil crust communities under differential temperatures and soil water contents: implications for global change. Glob Change Biol 16:2763–2774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iturrate-Garcia M, O’Brien MJ, Khitun O, Abiven S, Niklaus PA, Schaepman-Strub G (2016) Interactive effects between plant functional types and soil factors on tundra species diversity and community composition. Ecol Evol 6:8126–8137

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Kappen L, Valladares F (2007) Opportunistic growth and desiccation tolerance, the ecological success of the poikilohydrous strategy. In: Pugnaire FI, Valladares F (eds) Functional plant ecology, 2nd edn. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, pp 121–194

    Google Scholar 

  • Lange OL, Kilian E, Ziegler H (1986) Water vapor uptake and photosynthesis of lichens: performance differences in species with green and blue-green algae as phycobionts. Oecologia 71:104–110

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lange OL, Reichenberger H, Meyer A (1995) High thallus water content and photosynthetic CO2 exchange of lichens. Laboratory experiments with soil crust species from local xerothermic steppe formations in Franconia, Germany. Contribution to lichenology in honour of Gerhard Follmann. Geobotanical and Phytotaxonomical study group. Bot. Inst. University of Cologne, Cologne, pp 139–153

  • Lange OL, Green TGA (2005) Lichens show that fungi can acclimate their respiration to seasonal changes in temperature. Oecologia 142:11–19

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Leavitt SD, Westberg M, Nelsen MP, Elix JA, Timdal E, Sohrabi M, St. Clair LL, Williams L, Wedin M, Lumbsch HT (2018) Multiple, distinct intercontinental lineages but isolation of Australian populations in a cosmopolitan lichen-forming fungal taxon Psora decipiens (Psoraceae, Ascomycota). doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.00283

  • Liu YR, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Trivedi P, he JZ, Wang JT, Singh BK (2017) Identity of biocrust species and microbial communities drive the response of soil multifunctionality to simulated global change. Soil Biol Biochem 107:208–217

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maestre FT, Bowker MA, Cantón Y, Castillo-Monroy AP, Cortina J, Escolar C, Escudero A, Lázaro R, Martínez I (2011) Ecology and functional roles of biological soil-crusts in semi-arid ecosystems of Spain. J Arid Environ 75:1282–1291

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Maestre FT, Escolar C, Guevara M, Quero JL, Lázaro R, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Gallardo A (2013) Changes in biocrust cover drive carbon cycle responses to climate change in drylands. Glob Change Biol 19:3835–3847

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pintado A, Sancho LG, Blanquer JM, Green TGA, Lázaro R (2010) Microclimatic factors and photosynthetic activity of crustose lichens from the semiarid southeast of Spain: long-term measurements for Diploschistes diacapsis. Biblio Lich 105:211–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Proctor MCF (2009) Physiological ecology. In: Shaw AJ, Goffinet B (eds) Bryophite biology, 2nd edn. Cambridge University Press, pp 237–268

  • Raggio J, Pintado A, Vivas M, Sancho LG, Büdel B, Colesie C, Weber B, Schroeter B (2014) Continuous chlorophyll fluorescence, gas exchange and microclimate monitoring in a natural soil crust habitat in Tabernas badlands, Almería, Spain: progressing towards a model to understand productivity. Biodivers Conserv 23:1809–1826

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raggio J, Green TGA, Sancho LG, Pintado A, Colesie C, Weber B, Büdel B (2017) Metabolic activity duration can be effectively predicted from macroclimatic data for biological soil crust habitats across Europe. Geoderma 306:10–17

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raggio J, Green TGA, Pintado A, Sancho LG, Büdel B (2018) Environmental determinants of biocrust carbon fluxes across Europe: possibilities for a functional type approach. Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.6004679

  • Reynolds JF, Stafford Smith DM, Lambin EF, Turner BL II, Mortimer M et al (2007) Global desertification: building a science for dryland development. Science 316:847–851

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruprecht U, Brunauer G, Türk R (2014) High photobiont diversity in the common European soil crust lichen Psora decipiens. Biodivers Conserv 23:1771–1785

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford WA, Painter TH, Ferrenberg S, Belnap J Okin, G S, Flagg C, Reed SC (2017) Albedo feedbacks to future climate via climate change impacts on dryland biocrusts. Sci Rep 7, doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep44188

  • Schreiber U, Bilger W, Neubauer C (1994) Chlorophyll fluorescence as a non intrusive indicator for rapid assessment of in vivo photosynthesis. In: Schulze ED, Cadwell MM (eds) Ecophysiology of photosynthesis, vol 1. Springer. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp 49–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Su YG, Li XR, Cheng YW, Tan HJ, Jia RL (2007) Effects of biological soil crusts on emergence of desert vascular plants in North China. Plant Ecol191: 11–19

  • Weber B, Graf T, Bass M (2012) Ecophysiological analysis of moss-dominated biological soil crusts and their separate components from the succulent Karoo, South Africa. Planta 236:129–139

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Williams L, Colesie C, Ullmann A, Westberg M, Wedin M, Büdel B (2017) Lichen acclimation to changing environments: photobiont switching vs. climate-specific uniqueness in Psora decipiens. Ecol Evol 7:2560–2574

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao Y, Qin N, Weber B, Xu M (2014) Response of biological soil crusts to raindrop erosivity and underlying influences in the hilly loess plateau region, China. Biodivers Conserv 23:1669–1686

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the ERA-Net BiodivERsA program as “Soil Crust InterNational “(SCIN) – Understanding and valuing biological soil protection of disturbed and open land surfaces”, as part of the 2010–2011 BiodivERsA call. The Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) project number PRI-PIMBDV-2011-0874 funded this part of the global research. Rolf Gademann (Gademann Instruments) is thanked for development of the monitoring equipment (MoniDA) used in this project. Roberto Lázaro is also thanked for field assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jose Raggio.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

Authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Fernando T. Maestre.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(PDF 629 kb)

ESM 2

(PDF 72 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Raggio, J., Allan Green, T.G., Pintado, A. et al. Environmental determinants of biocrust carbon fluxes across Europe: possibilities for a functional type approach. Plant Soil 429, 147–157 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3646-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-018-3646-1

Keywords

Navigation