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This volume summarizes our currentunderstanding of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which are omnipresent indryland regions. Since they cover the soil surface, they influence, or evencontrol, all surface exchange processes. Being one of the oldest terrestrialcommunities, biocrusts comprise a high diversity of cyanobacteria, algae,lichens and bryophytes together with uncounted bacteria, and fungi. The authorsshow that biocrusts are an integral part of dryland ecosystems, stabilizingsoils, influencing plant germination and growth, and playing a key role incarbon, nitrogen and water cycling. Initial attempts have been made to usebiocrusts as models in ecological theory. On the other hand, biocrusts are endangeredby local disruptions and global change, highlighting the need for enhancedrecovery methods. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the fascinatingfield of biocrust research, making it indispensable not only for scientists inthis area, but also for land managers, policy makers, and anyone interested inthe environment.
List of contents
Biological soil crusts as a critical zone of globalimportance.- How biological soil crusts became studied as a community.- Fossilcrusts.- Cyanobacteria and algae within biological soil crusts.- Fungi and bacteriawithin biological soil crusts.- Bryophytes within biological soil crusts.-Lichens within biological soil crusts.- Microfauna within biological soilcrusts.- Composition and structure of biological soil crusts.- Controls ondistribution patterns of biological soil crusts at the micro-, macro-, andglobal scale.- Hypolithic communities.- Remote sensing of biological soilcrusts at different scales.- Microstructure and weathering processes withinbiological soil crusts.- Patterns and controls on nitrogen cycling of biologicalsoil crusts.- Carbon budgets of biological soil crusts at micro- meso-, andglobal scales.- Biological soil crusts as soil stabilizers.- Effects ofbiological soil crusts on arid land hydrology.- Response of biological soilcrust organisms to light, temperature, and water conditions.- Interactions ofbiological soil crusts with vascular plants.- Biological soil crusts as model tostudy plant interactions and functional roles.- Effects of disturbance onbiological soil crusts.- Effects of climate change on biological soil crusts.- Naturalrecovery of biological soil crusts after disturbance.- Enhanced recovery ofbiological soil crusts after disturbance.- Synthesis on biological soil crustresearch.
