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Development of artificially induced biological soil crusts in fields and their effects on top soil

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Abstract

Aims

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) could improve severe environment ecological conditions by increasing soil moisture, soil nitrogen concentration, and so on. In order to control desertification and recover the destroyed soil fertility utilizing a new means using BSCs, the soil surface was artificially inoculated with Microcoleus vaginatus and Scytonema javanicum. Relationships between the development of the artificially induced biological soil crusts and the distribution and dynamic changes of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil crusts have been analyzed.

Methods

Crusts of different ages were investigated by measuring soil physical and chemical factors, such as moisture, pH, total and available N content, and total and available P, which were correlated with the depths of the crusts.

Results

This study found that the types of color, shape, and species components of the algal crusts increased with crust development. Soil moisture, total N, available N, and available P increased gradually with crust growth. Soil with crusts was wetter than the controlled naked sandy soil, and a significant correlation was observed between biomass and total nitrogen (r = 0.946, P = 0.015). Soil pH was lower than that of control. The scytonemin on the soil surface was exceptionally higher than the other pigments, and all the pigments were mainly distributed at the soil surface level. Though the crusts were mainly distributed on soil surface, the available P was mainly stored below the crust layer.

Conclusions

Pearson correlation tests indicated that artificially inoculated biological crusts could improve soil fertility and micro-environment of the top soil: The development of artificially induced BSCs was very well, and this was favorable to inducing the following crust succession.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the staff of the Forest Science Academy of Inner Mongolia, China, for their assistance in conducting the research. The authors would like to thank Mr. Yingwu Shen and Mr. Xiaoliang An for their assistance in the field investigations and lab analyses. The research was financially supported by the by National Key Technology R&D Program of China (2009BAC54B01), National Natural Science Foundation of China (41071041), and Inner Mongolia Development and Innovation Committee together with the government of Wuhan City and the Chinese National Natural Sciences Foundation (30770395).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7# Donghu South Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China

    Yiwen Wu, Benqiang Rao, Peipei Wu, Yongding Liu, Genbao Li & Dunhai Li

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Yiwen Wu & Peipei Wu

  3. College of Life Sciences, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, 464000, People’s Republic of China

    Benqiang Rao

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  1. Yiwen Wu
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  2. Benqiang Rao
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  4. Yongding Liu
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  5. Genbao Li
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  6. Dunhai Li
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Correspondence to Genbao Li.

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Responsible Editor: Euan K. James.

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Wu, Y., Rao, B., Wu, P. et al. Development of artificially induced biological soil crusts in fields and their effects on top soil. Plant Soil 370, 115–124 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-013-1611-6

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