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Impacts of Biological Soil Crust Disturbance and Composition on C and N Loss from Water Erosion

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Abstract

In this study, we conducted rainfall simulation experiments in a cool desert ecosystem to examine the role of biological soil crust disturbance and composition on dissolved and sediment C and N losses. We compared runoff and sediment C and N losses from intact late-successional dark cyanolichen crusts (intact) to both trampled dark crusts (trampled) and dark crusts where the top 1 cm of the soil surface was removed (scraped). In a second experiment, we compared C and N losses in runoff and sediments in early-successional light cyanobacterial crusts (light) to that of intact late-successional dark cyanolichen crusts (dark). A relatively high rainfall intensity of approximately 38 mm per 10-min period was used to ensure that at least some runoff was generated from all plots. Losses of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and ammonium (NH +4 ) were significantly higher from trampled plots as compared to scraped and intact plots. Sediment C and N losses, which made up more than 98% of total nutrient losses in all treatments, were more than 4-fold higher from trampled plots relative to intact plots (sediment C g/m2, intact = 0.74, trampled = 3.47; sediment N g/m2, intact = 0.06, trampled = 0.28). In light crusts, DOC loss was higher relative to dark crusts, but no differences were observed in dissolved N. Higher sediment loss in light crusts relative to dark crusts resulted in 5-fold higher loss of sediment-bound C and N. Total C flux (sediment + dissolved) was on the order of 0.9 and 7.9 g/m2 for dark and light crusts, respectively. Sediment N concentration in the first minutes after runoff from light crusts was 3-fold higher than the percent N of the top 1 cm of soil, suggesting that even short-term runoff events may have a high potential for N loss due to the movement of sediments highly enriched in N. Total N loss from dark crusts was an order of magnitude lower than light crusts (dark = 0.06 g N/m2, light = 0.63 g/m2). Overall, our results from the small plot scale (0.5 m2) suggest that C and N losses are much lower from intact late-successional cyanolichen crusts as compared to recently disturbed or early-successional light cyanobacterial crusts.

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  1. Nichole N. Barger

    Present address: Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Campus Box 450, 1560 30th St. RL-1 220, Boulder, CO, 80309

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523

    Nichole N. Barger & Jayne Belnap

  2. USDA – ARS Jornada Experimental Range, Las Cruces, NM, 88003

    Jeffrey E. Herrick & Justin Van Zee

  3. USGS – BRD Canyonlands Field Station, Moab, UT, 84532

    Jayne Belnap

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  1. Nichole N. Barger
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  4. Jayne Belnap
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Correspondence to Nichole N. Barger.

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Barger, N.N., Herrick, J.E., Van Zee, J. et al. Impacts of Biological Soil Crust Disturbance and Composition on C and N Loss from Water Erosion. Biogeochemistry 77, 247–263 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-005-1424-7

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