Abstract
Purpose
Cyanobacteria-dominated crusts are solid basis for the maintenance and improvement of soils in dryland ecosystem. The present study is to investigate the seasonal variations of cyanobacteria-dominated crust characteristics in a dryland ecosystem, including crusts thickness, chlorophyll a, proteins, polysaccharides, and carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) contents and to clarify the effects of crust characteristics together with soil properties on soil enzymes beneath crusts.
Methods
Cyanobacteria-dominated crusts and soils beneath crusts were sampled in spring (March 14), summer (June 15), autumn (September 14), and winter (December 15) of 2020 in the southeast edge of Tengger Desert in northern China.
Results
Chlorophyll a, proteins, polysaccharides, and crusts C and N showed higher values in spring and autumn, while thickness, crusts P, C: N, C: P, and N: P have no significant changes throughout all seasons. Soil enzyme activities beneath crusts declined with increasing depth, whereas enzyme behavior differed among seasons. Redundancy analysis indicated that crust proteins and soil water content were the important factors accounting for differences in soil enzymes in 0–5 cm soil layer, while the determining factors for soil enzymes in 5–10 cm soil layer were proteins, soil organic carbon, soil available phosphorus, and thickness.
Conclusion
The seasonal variations in cyanobacteria-dominated crusts mainly come from changing proteins, polysaccharides, C, and N contents. The stable C: N, C: P, and N: P ratios did not change significantly over the seasons, thus keeping a stable state of crusts in the current dryland ecosystem. Moreover, proteins, soil organic carbon, and soil moisture make great contributions to the seasonal variations of soil enzymes. Overall, our findings demonstrate the depth-related response of soil enzymes to cyanobacteria-dominated crusts in seasons and highlight the ecological function of cyanobacteria-dominated crust characteristics in seasonal fluctuations.
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Data availability
The complete data set is available on request (by e-mail) from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station of Chinese Academy of Sciences for sampling support in the field.
Funding
We would like to thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 41801086 and 41806103) for the financial support.
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Zhang, K., Li, Y., Wang, K. et al. Response of soil enzymes to soil properties and seasonal characteristics of cyanobacteria-dominated crusts in a dryland ecosystem. J Soils Sediments 23, 2756–2765 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03514-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-023-03514-x