The world at your feet: desert biological soil crusts

By J. Belnap. 2003

446 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Environmental Chemistry

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/60f22eabcc4012f8c418eec192c85f7192ccf36f

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. G. Mugnai
2. Federico Rossi
3. M. Serpe
4. R. De Philippis
5. R. Rosentreter
6. I. Skorochod
7. M. Fomina
8. J. Cuadros

In Environmental Chemistry

1. G. Mugnai
2. Federico Rossi
3. R. De Philippis
4. J. Cuadros
5. R. Rosentreter
6. M. Serpe
7. A. Faist
8. Nichole Barger

Citations in the corpus

• Complex role of the polymeric matrix in biological soil crusts (2018, background): “For example, BSCs enhance germination and emergence of seeds in cool desert (Belnap 2003a, b) where morphology is characterized as rolling or pinnacled (Belnap 2001).”
• Do biological soil crusts determine vegetation changes in sandy deserts? Implications for managing artificial vegetation (2010, background): “Many studies have indicated that the colonization and development of BSCs were negatively correlated with vascular plant cover, especially woody species cover, because barren habitats in which vascular plants are limited due to low resource availability (West, 1990; Eldridge and Greene, 1994; Belnap”
• Common and distinguishing features of the bacterial and fungal communities in biological soil crusts and shrub root zone soils (2014, background): “Biocrusts, consisting of cyanobacteria, algae, mosses and lichens along with their associated heterotrophic bacteria and fungi, colonize the soil between the patchily distributed plants and lie primarily outside the plant canopies and influence of plant roots (Belnap, 2003; Belnap et al., 2003a).”
• Evidence of drought-induced stress on biotic crust moss in the Mojave Desert (2005, background): “Accordingly, these ecological functions make assessment and protection of these communities a high-ranking management priority in desert regions (Belnap 2003).”
• The unseen majority: soil microbes as drivers of plant diversity and productivity in terrestrial ecosystems. (2008, background): “Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria also contribute to the N economy of terrestrial ecosystems, such as deserts (Belnap 2003), and boreal forest, where N fixation has traditionally been thought to be extremely limited.”
• Microbial Interaction with Clay Minerals and Its Environmental and Biotechnological Implications (2020, background): “In the soil crust, clay and other mineral particles are functioning as the structural materials providing inorganic nutrients as well as protection against radiation and desiccation [45].”
• Biological soil crusts greatly contribute to small-scale soil heterogeneity along a grazing gradient (2013, background): “, 2003; Bamforth, 2004) may also have a potential influence on soil physico-chemical properties, since they participate in several soil ecological processes such as soil nutrient cycling or soil respiration (Belnap, 2003).”
• Germination and seed water status of four grasses on moss-dominated biological soil crusts from arid lands (2006, background): “In the Great Basin of North America, a decrease in the density of B. tectorum plants would result in less dry biomass during the summer, which would reduce the frequency and extent of wildfires (Kaltenecker et al. 1999; Belnap 2003).”
• Sustainability and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae): facts and challenges (2011, background): “Biological crusts occurring in semiarid and arid regions of the world play an important role in maintaining and restoring the ecosystem of the area (Belnap 2003).”
• Diversity of free-living and lichenized fungal communities in biological soil crusts of the Sultanate of Oman and their role in improving soil properties (2013, result): “This observation is consistent with previous studies on other desert ecosystems (Belnap and Gillette, 1997; Eldridge and Lays, 2003; Belnap, 2003; Zhang et al., 2006), although in some cases it was shown that lichen is more effective than cyanobacteria in reducing ‘splash’ soil erosion, perhaps due ”
• Clay minerals interaction with microorganisms: a review (2017, background): “They develop at the top of soils, most frequently in arid and semi-arid climates, and generate a coherent layer which stabilizes the soil (Belnap et al., 2001). The mineral particles and every biological species fulfil a function that benefits the community and the wider ecosystem, from fixation of ”
• Biological soil crust and disturbance controls on surface hydrology in a semi-arid ecosystem (2017, background): “Following disturbance, biocrusts develop through successional phases (Belnap 2003) in which filamentous cyanobacteria are early colonizers on unstable soils.”