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Microstructure and Weathering Processes Within Biological Soil Crusts

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Biological Soil Crusts: An Organizing Principle in Drylands

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 226))

Abstract

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are organo-sedimentary systems in which both the organic and the inorganic mineral components play dynamic roles in determining the architecture and evolution of the system, as they interact between themselves and with the physical environment. We review critically advances in the description of the microstructure of biocrusts with respect to their abiotic and biological components, as well as the interactions between the two in time and space that result in important properties of environmental relevance. We pay special attention to the processes of crust biological and physical succession and to mineral weathering processes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, USA

    Ferran Garcia-Pichel

  2. Institute of Soil Science and Soil Conservation, Research Centre for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition (IFZ), Justus Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392, Giessen, Germany

    Vincent John Martin Noah Linus Felde & Sylvie Laureen Drahorad

  3. Department of Soil Science, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstr. 1a, 37213, Witzenhausen, Germany

    Vincent John Martin Noah Linus Felde

  4. Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, 55128, Mainz, Germany

    Bettina Weber

Authors
  1. Ferran Garcia-Pichel
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  2. Vincent John Martin Noah Linus Felde
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  3. Sylvie Laureen Drahorad
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  4. Bettina Weber
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ferran Garcia-Pichel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Plank Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany

    Bettina Weber

  2. Plant Ecology and Systematics, Department of Biology, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Burkhard Büdel

  3. Southwest Biological Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Moab, Utah, USA

    Jayne Belnap

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Garcia-Pichel, F., Felde, V.J.M.N.L., Drahorad, S.L., Weber, B. (2016). Microstructure and Weathering Processes Within Biological Soil Crusts. In: Weber, B., Büdel, B., Belnap, J. (eds) Biological Soil Crusts: An Organizing Principle in Drylands. Ecological Studies, vol 226. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30214-0_13

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