Biological Soil Crusts: Characteristics and Distribution

By J. Belnap, Burkhard Büdel, O. Lange. 2001

462 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ab8c1a5b4f9c20c6a8a1a98c0bc32939b6600748

How researchers see this paper

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

In Biomedical Engineering

1. B. Xiao
2. Maik Veste
3. Xin‐rong Li
4. J. Belnap
5. I. Skorochod
6. M. Fomina

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. B. Xiao
2. Maik Veste
3. A. Faist
4. Nichole Barger
5. Xin‐rong Li
6. I. Skorochod
7. M. Fomina
8. J. Herrick

Citations in the corpus

• Fungal communities of lichen-dominated biological soil crusts: Diversity, relative microbial biomass, and their relationship to disturbance and crust cover (2010, background): “These substantial numbers point to the relevance of BSC mediated C and N cycling on a global scale, especially considering approximately one-third of the Earth’s terrestrial surface is arid or semi-arid land where BSC cover can be as high as 70% in some areas (Belnap et al., 2001).”
• Microbial Interaction with Clay Minerals and Its Environmental and Biotechnological Implications (2020, background): “Microorganisms including bacteria, archaea, cyanobacteria, microalgae, and free-living and symbiotic fungi in association with soil particles represent the soil crust developing at the top of soils and generate a coherent layer which stabilizes the soil [13,44].”
• Nitrogen Fixing Cyanobacteria: Future Prospect (2014, background): “…(Hobara et al. 2006; Solheim et al. 2006) and form many associations with vegetation including epiphytic and endophytic facultative associations with bryophytes (Turetsky, 2003) and the lichen symbioses and soil surface colonies that are components of Biological Soil Crusts (Belnap et al. 2001).”
• Biocrusts: the living skin of the earth (2018, unknown): “Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) form a Bliving skin^ at the soil surface in many low-productivity ecosystems around the world including water- and cold-limited environments, and early-successional seres (Belnap et al. 2003).”
• Effects of Biological Soil Crusts on Seed Bank, Germination and Establishment of Two Annual Plant Species in the Tengger Desert (N China) (2005, background): “However, these studies have been almost entirely from ‘hot, cool and cold desert regions’ of North America, Israel and Australia (Belnap et al., 2003), while soil crusts are common in the extensive desert regions of central Asia and China.”
• Carbon exchange in biological soil crust communities under differential temperatures and soil water contents: implications for global change (2010, background): “Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a soil surface community made up of cyanobacteria, lichens, and moss; are globally widespread; and are an important part of the soil community in many desert ecosystems (Belnap et al., 2001).”
• Biological soil crust and disturbance controls on surface hydrology in a semi-arid ecosystem (2017, background): “Biological soil crusts (hereafter referred to as “biocrusts”) are found in many ecosystems across the globe with a strong presence in arid and semi-arid drylands (Belnap et al. 2001, Belnap 2006).”
• The potential roles of biological soil crusts in dryland hydrologic cycles (2006, background): “Soil moisture retention time Increases in crust biomass and lichen–moss cover darken soil surfaces, which increases soil temperatures (Belnap et al., 2003b).”
• Moss-dominated biocrusts increase soil microbial abundance and community diversity and improve soil fertility in semi-arid climates on the Loess Plateau of China (2017, background): “Their roles in C and N cycling and improving soil fertility (soil chemical and biological processes) are mostly attributed to the cyanobacteria, green-algae, bacteria, and fungi through their photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and effects on soil enzyme activities (Belnap et al., 2003b).”
• Biological soil crust community types differ in key ecological functions (2013, background): “Biological soil crusts carry out essential ecological roles in desert ecosystems (Evans and Johansen, 1999; Belnap et al., 2003).”
• The role of microorganisms at different stages of ecosystem development for soil formation (2013, background): “It is very likely that crusts were there before plants established, as they are known to pave the way for vascular plants, because on the one hand BSCs improve soil fertility and on the other hand they create advantageous micro-environments for plant germination and growth (Belnap et al., 2001b).”