Biological Soil Crust Science Forum videos and transcripts available

Follow the link to download videos or transcripts. I can't bear to watch a video of myself, so i can't tell you if they're good or not….hope so. Also featured are Drs. Jayne Belnap, Janice Boettinger, Kim Anderson, and Fee Busby. This was an all day event in which panel members answered questions from the public about biocrusts in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The event was meant to summarize the state of knowledge about biocrusts specifically to inform the environmental impact statement for the upcoming grazing plan.




http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/grand_staircase-escalante.html

Forest-Rangeland Soil Ecology Lab: Biocrust at Hovenweep NM

A repost of Kyle Doherty's post over at the lab site...

Forest-Rangeland Soil Ecology Lab: Biocrust at Hovenweep NM: I traveled to Hovenweep National Monument today in search of cliff dwellings, but got distracted by the excellent crust communities there! ...

Biological soil crust science forum, August 6, Kanab, Utah

Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement on their grazing plan. Previously there was a scoping period in which members of the public were invited to submit comments. A major theme in the comments was biocrusts. In response to this, the Monument is organizing a moderated public forum in which a panel will answer questions submitted by the general public. The event will be at the Kanab, Utah city library (9:00 am - 4:00 pm Mountain Standard Time), and will also be broadcast live online. I have agreed to join the panel, as have Jayne Belnap, Janis Boettinger, Fee Busby and Kim Anderson.

Official News Release
Lake Powell News Article (this link loads faster)
Agenda
Watch Live online here

Forest-Rangeland Soil Ecology Lab: Bowker lab - check us out at ESA next month

Forest-Rangeland Soil Ecology Lab: Bowker lab - check us out at ESA next month: Next month lab members will present new research at the Ecological Society of America Meeting in Sacramento . Kyle Doherty will ...

Biocrusts in El Malpais National Monument, New Mexico

It's that time again…photo dumps from trips taken months ago! Last Spring I joined my graduate student Jesse, and two collaborators from the National Park Service on a trip to El Malpais in New Mexico.  Jesse is working on establishing an array of monitoring plots for "unique plant communities" which are important reservoirs of biodiversity in the National Park System. 

El Malpais is a National Monument built around a series of lava flows. One cool thing about it is that the lava flows left islands of pre-existing soils. Because much of the lava is a'a, its is very difficult to traverse. The Monument resource manager, David Hayes told us there were 2 kinds of people who work at the Monument: 1. those who have hurt themselves on the lava, 2. those that will hurt themselves on the lava. This works for cows too, so the islands or "kipukas" have experienced much less disturbance historically. So in addition to selecting unique plant communities to sample, I was very intrigued to see what the biocrusts looked like in the kipukas. I had envisioned some kind of sandy soils with grasslands or woodlands. Instead, the soils were derived of older basalt, and sure enough there were plenty of biocrusts. There are a ton of places, especially in the Great Basin and Colombia Basin where basalt soils support biocrusts. But for some reason, despite much looking, I have never seen biocrusts on basalt soils on the Colorado Plateau…until El Malpais. From that moment on, I was hopelessly fascinated to see more soils. In addition to lava of different ages, there are sedimentary rocks which develop into very different soils with very different communities. Very cool place.

Maybe the coolest thing I learned was from Jesse. A Navajo story recounts the monster killing exploits of the hero twins. One of the monsters they killed was walking giant. The lava flows are the blood of walking giant. 

Appears to be a Leptogium, anyone able to ID from the picture?

Collema tenax and a Placidium species growing together as they often do.

Collema coccophorum; note the slightly reddish disks are apothecia.

A Psora species, probably globifera.

The lava flows are riddled with lava tubes. When lava is flowing the exterior may begin to harden, while the center is still liquid and able to drain out leaving tubes.

Inside a tube!

New book series: Terricolous Lichens in India

This is a newly published, 5 chapter volume edited by Rai & Upreti. Learn more here (Springer page) and here (Google site).  There is also a volume 2 on Morphotaxonomic studies.

CONTENTS:

1. Lichenological Studies in India with Reference to Terricolous Lichens. 

Rai, Himanshu; Khare, Roshni; Upreti, Dalip Kumar

Abstract

The symbiotic association of fungi and algae/cyanobacteria, known as lichen, is one of the most successful associations in nature. Dominated by ascomycetous mycobiont majority (85 %) of lichens have green algae as their photobionts, rest (15 %) have cyanobacteria as their primary or secondary photobionts. Cyanolichens, owing to their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen, help in nitrogen dynamics of terrestrial biomes. On the basis of substratum, lichens are categorized into saxicolous (inhabiting rocks and stones), corticolous (growing on tree barks), terricolous (soil inhabiting), ramicolous (growing on twigs), muscicolous (growing over mosses), and omnicolous (inhabiting various substrates and manmade structures). Among these, soil-inhabiting terricolous lichens are among the most sensitive lichens, used in biomonitoring studies. Lichenological researches in India in the past 50 years have accumulated a good amount of taxonomic knowledge and now, applied fields of lichenological researches are being explored such as bioprospection of lichen metabolites, lichen-based pollution monitoring, ethnopharmacological uses of lichens and functional ecophysiology of lichens. Indian terricolous lichens, besides being mentioned in taxonomic records and enumerations, have also been studied for their ethnopharmacological uses and their role in functional ecology (nutrient dynamics, photobiont specificity, altitudinal optimum, and biomonitoring of zooanthropogenic pressures) of their habitats.

2. Distribution Ecology of Soil Crust Lichens in India: A Comparative Assessment with Global Patterns

Rosentreter, Roger; Rai, Himanshu; Upreti, Dalip Kumar

Abstract

Soil-inhabiting terricolous lichens along with other cryptogams such as mosses and cyanobacteria form a functional entity, referred to as biological soil crust (BSC). Lichen-dominated BSCs occur worldwide. The formation of BSCs and their species diversity is governed by factors such as, climate, soil-type, calcareousness, soil-texture, hydrology, and zooanthropogenic pressures. In India, soil crust formation and terricolous lichen diversity is governed by the same set of factors that govern soil crusts globally. The western dryer region of the country is poor in soil crust lichens due to dryer climate, sandy-textured soils, and high zooanthropogenic perturbations. Terricolous lichens in these regions are restricted to some high altitude, moist habitats and largely composed of calcicolous species such as the genus Collema. The Himalayan habitats harbour maximum diversity of biological soil crusts and terricolous lichens dominated by species of Stereocaulon and Cladonia, followed by Peltigeraand Xanthoparmelia. The soil crust lichens in these temperate habitats are constrained by grazing pressures and decrease in soil cover along increasing altitudinal gradient.

     

3. Terricolous Lichens in Himalayas: Patterns of Species Richness Along Elevation Gradient

Baniya, Chitra Bahadur; Rai, Himanshu; Upreti, Dalip Kumar

Abstract

Despite the great importance of terricolous lichens very few efforts have been done towards the elevational richness pattern and their ecology from the Himalayas. In present study elevational ranges of terricolous lichen richness were interpolated at every 100 m altitudinal band. They were found distributed from 100 to 6,000 m. A total of 212 terricolous lichen species under 54 genera and 24 families were found recorded in India and Nepal. These terricolous lichen species showed a highly significant unimodal elevational declining pattern with dominant peak at 2,400 m. This unimodal richness pattern was also followed by their dominant families but differed in elevation of peak richness. The zones of dominance and diversity richness of terricolous lichen species were discussed with reference to natural and anthropogenic factors specific to Himalayan habitats.

4. Photobiont Diversity in Indian Cladonia Lichens, with Special Emphasis on the Geographical Patterns

Řídká, Tereza; Peksa, Ondřej; Rai, Himanshu; Upreti, Dalip Kumar; Škaloud, Pavel

Abstract

The biogeography of lichen photobionts is still poorly known, in particular, as the majority of reports have been published from Europe and North America. In this study, we examined the diversity of Asterochloris photobionts from terricolous lichens (Cladonia spp.) collected in five different areas in India and Nepal during the years 2007 and 2010. In total, we obtained 20 internal transcribed spacer (ITS) ribosomal DNA (rDNA) photobiont sequences from 11 different Cladonia species. The phylogenetic position of Asterochloris photobionts was investigated by the phylogenetic analysis based on the concatenated ITS rDNA and actin type I intron dataset. The newly obtained photobiont sequences were inferred in six clades, including two novel clades exclusively formed by photobionts of Indian Cladonia lichens. As the sequences of these two clades were genetically considerably different from all other known Asterochloris lineages, they most probably represent new, undescribed photobiont species. According to our data, three clades seem to have rather restricted distribution, reported so far only from Europe and Asia, respectively. However, we propose that the restricted distribution of these three photobiont clades is not caused by either historic or biological factors, but more likely by specific climatic or habitat preferences and the under-exploration of such habitats in different regions.

    

5. Photobiont Diversity of Soil Crust Lichens Along Substrate Ecology and Altitudinal Gradients in Himalayas: A Case Study from Garhwal Himalaya

Anna, Voytsekhovich; Dymytrova, Lyudmyla; Rai, Himanshu; Upreti, Dalip Kumar

Abstract

The symbiotic coevolution of algae and fungi in lichens has been instrumental in overall success of lichens in some of the most unfavourable habitats of the planet. Himalayas by virtue of their fragile temperature regime and diverse topography allow variety of lichen functional groups to flourish. Among these, soil-inhabiting terricolous lichens have proved to be good indicators of habitat heterogeneity and zooanthropogenic pressures. Photobiont diversity of terricolous lichens of Garhwal Himalayas showed the dominance of Chlorophyta (70 %) over Cyanoprokaryota (30 %) as photobionts. The ecological preference analysis of the photobionts indicated that majority of photobionts preferred lichens belonging to terricolous or terricolous–rupicolous ecological subgroups. Asterochloris dominated in the both subgroups, whereas Nostoc was common in muscicolous–rupicolous subgroup. The comparative dominance of the photobionts in ecological subgroups was a function of hydration preferences of photobionts. Cyanobionts dominate niches which can hold water for longer period, whereas dominate green algal chlorobionts dominate the rest. The altitudinal preferences showed that lichen species with Asterochloris were found in the range of 2,300–3,700 m, followed by Scytonema at 1,700–3,900 m, Nostoc at 2,100–3,500 m andTrebouxia at 2,800–4,000 m. As the maximum richness was within the range of 2,800–3,500-m altitude, it is evident that the diversity drivers of lichen photobionts were climatic factors (i.e. light intensity, humidity/precipitation and temperature).

Syntrichia clone library

This is the beginnings of our new culture collection of Syntrichia, established by Kyle Doherty. Eventually, we'll have roughly 50 populations each for S. ruralis and S. caninervis growing from all over the Colorado Plateau.

Upcoming biocrust course targeted to federal employees

Hi,

Please distribute to your networks.  

There is plenty of room available in the Biological Soil Crust course, to be held in Moab, Utah, March 25-27th.  Registration must be completed by Jan. 24th or we will be forced to cancel the course.  The course is taught by Jayne Belnap (USGS) and Roger Rosentreter (retired BLM ID State Botanist).  If budgets will allow, please sign up in DOI Learn (Course no. 1730-41).

If you have any questions, please contact me.  

Thanks!
--

Lori Young

Training Coordinator

Wildlife, Plant Conservation and IPM

BLM National Training Center

9828 N. 31st Avenue

Phoenix, AZ  85051

602-906-5640

lyoung@blm.gov

Visit my sharepoint site 

https://partnerteamspace.blm.doi.net/sites-nt/esa/default.aspx 

CEIA3 News: Proven benefits of soil crusts in arid zone conservation

http://www.ceia3.es/en/news/news/134-proven-benefits-of-soil-crusts-in-arid-zone-conservation

Canton et al. conduct a rainfall simulation experiment over biocrusts in southern Spain. Source: Agrifood Center of International Excellence, Spain (CEIA3.es)

Rapid adjustment of leaf angle explains how the desert moss, Syntrichia caninervis, copes with multiple resource limitations during rehydrationCSIRO PUBLISHING - Functional Plant Biology

CSIRO PUBLISHING - Functional Plant Biology

Way Overdue: A First-Ever Grazing Plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Way Overdue: A First-Ever Grazing Plan for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

The comment period on the Grand Staircase-Escalante NM Grazing Plan is open.

The influence of environmental factors on biological soil crust: from a community perspective to a species level approach ConcostrinaZubiri 2013 Journal of Vegetation Science Wiley Online Library

The influence of environmental factors on biological soil crust: from a community perspective to a species level approach ConcostrinaZubiri 2013 Journal of Vegetation Science Wiley Online Library

Biocrusts of Northern Arizona National Monuments Post 5: Sunset Crater National Monument

Typical conditions in Sunset Crater National Monument. a) Landscape view, showing open ponderosa pine forest and cinder-covered interspaces. b) A patch of the moss Ceratodon purpureus associated with organic matter. c) A typical cinder-covered interspace with little soil development.n

Sunset Crater-Soil development at Sunset Crater is rather minimal due to the recent geological origin of the parent materials. Areas with particle size distributions less than 2mm can be found, but are quite rare. Therefore, we did not extend our models to Sunset Crater due to the paucity of biocrust habitat. Survey crews did occasionally observe patches of moss cover, mostly Ceratodon purpureus, often associated with organic matter enrichment (Figure 9b). There was no observation of any cyanobacterial development on these sites, and only very minimal cover of the soil lichen Cladonia (note: rock lichens are quite abundant however). Interestingly, extensive moss cover was observed adjacent to the road possibly due to a N-sloping roadcut.

This is the latest in a series, see here for a lichen key, here for a moss key, here for a description of Walnut Canyon biocrust, here for a description of Wupatki biocrust.

Biocrust data repository

Preface: After a quick glance at the Maestre lab blog, I see they have added links to datasets deposited for public use on Dryad. Good idea. In fact I need to make some old data available myself, the only reason I haven't being that I'd have to sit down and document metadata (yuck!) and make sure the data was easy for someone else to use and I have so much other shit to do in every waking minute that it just hasn't been done. One day....be patient. In the meantime, thanks to Fernando & Co. for showing us how we should be operating.

It occurs to me that there ought to be a single place where someone could go an find links to datasets containing some form of biocrust data, and that this blog is the perfect launching pad. I'll have to think about a nice, more permanent way to do it, but in the meantime it occurs to me I can do it as a simple blog post that I will permalink on the top bar. It will be called Biocrust Data Repository just like this post (do you see it up there?), and I will periodically update it with your help. If you want a link to a dataset posted, leave a comment. You'll have to deposit the data somewhere such as Dryad or your own website, and I will link to the URL that you provide.

Dryad
This is the most widely used repository for data. Here's a search for the term "biological soil crust".

Figshare
This is a widely used repository for figures, presentations, and in some cases datasets. Here's a search for the term "biological soil crust".

Specific data resources (check back for updates)
Castillo-Monroy AP, Maestre FT, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Gallardo A (2010) Biological soil crusts modulate nitrogen availability in semi-arid ecosystems:insights from a Mediterranean grassland. Plant and Soil 333:21-34.

Delgado-Baquerizo M, Maestre FT, Escolar C, Gallardo A, Ochoa V, Gozalo B, Prado-Comesaña A (2014) Direct and indirect impacts of climate change on microbial and biocrust communities alter the resistance of the N cycle in a semiarid grassland. Journal of Ecology 102(6): 1592-1605. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12303

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. Functional Ecology 29(8): 1087-1098. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12403

Escolar C, Martinez I, Bowker MA, Maestre FT (2012) Warming reduces the growth and diversity of biological soil crusts in a semi-arid environment:implications for ecosystem structure and functioning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 367: 3087-3099.

Maestre FT, Puche MD (2009) Indices based on surface indicators predict soil functioning in Mediterranean semi-arid steppes. Applied Soil Ecology 41:342-350.

Weber B, Berkemeier T, Ruckteschler N, Caesar J, Heintz H, Ritter H, Brab H (2015) Development and calibration of a novel sensor to quantify the water content of surface soils and biological soil crusts. Methods in Ecology and Evolution http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12459


To submit a link to an archived dataset, please leave a comment with the original paper citation (if applicable) and a link to where the data can be downloaded.

Biocrusts of Northern Arizona NAtional Monuments Post 4: Wupatki

This is the latest in a series, see here for a lichen key, here for a moss key, and here for a description of Walnut Canyon biocrusts.

Wupatki-Wupatki was the largest national monument examined. We found that in the case of potential biocrust abundance low to medium values were observed within the monument. All of our outputs suggest that the areas where biocrusts attain the greatest importance are the limestone flats above the Doney cliffs, including Antelope Prairie. This conclusion is deceptive because it does not take into account eolian reworked cinders. Surfaces covered by cinders are not available habitat for BSCs. We had no available spatial data on the extent of cinder deposits, therefore we generated a map of cinder cover based upon interpolation of our surface data (Figure 1). Amos et al. (1981) provide data on thicker cinder deposits, but do not address the thin eolian deposition of cinders that strongly influences western Wupatki. Because mapping cinder cover was outside the scope of our project, this data should be considered a rough approximation only. The cinder map reveals that a large proportion of Wupatki that otherwise could support BSCs likely does not because a large proportion of the available surface is covered with cinders (Figure 2a). There may however be less cinder deposition on the northern portions of the Doney Cliffs where our models predict high potential for BSC abundance, function and biodiversity.

Figure 1. Surface cinder cover in Wupatki National Monument, estimated by interpolation from non-systematic ground-based samples.

 

Overall, BSC cover is sparse in Wupatki, apparently due to several factors. The cinder deposits of the western portions virtually prohibit biocrust development because there is simply no soil at the surface, i.e. no available habitat. To the east, the Wupatki basin has less cinder deposition but is quite arid and hot, and is lacking in sandy soils which tend to support higher biocrust cover on the Colorado Plateau. This area consists mainly of highly eroded exposures of moenkopi shale, and alluvial terraces of various ages. Minor biocrust development was detected on some alluvial terraces, but was not clearly related to terrace age. Occasionally northern exposures (especially shrub mounds within such sites) supported some crust cover (Figure 2). It is possible, especially in the Wupatki Basin, that the landscape is not at its potential due to the legacy of disturbance both from livestock and the widespread prehistoric agriculture that occurred there. Calcareous sandy soils and non-bentonitic shale-derived soils in low disturbance conditions generally support greater biocrust cover than that observed in the Wupatki Basin.

Figure 2. Soil surfaces in Wupatki National Monument. a. A thin veneer of cinder deposition prohibits biocrust development due to little available habitat at the soil surface. b. A biocrust growing on the north side of a shrub mound on an alluvial terrace.