RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Biocrusts buffer against the accumulation of soilmetallic nutrients induced by warmingand rainfall reduction
A1 Moreno-Jiménez, Eduardo
A1 Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl
A1 Plaza, César
A1 Aceña-Heras, Sara
A1 Flagmeier, Maren
A1 Elouali, Fatima Z.
A1 Ochoa, Victoria
A1 Gozalo, Beatriz
A1 Lázaro, Roberto
A1 Maestre, Fernando T.
A2 Biología
AB The availability of metallic nutrients in dryland soils, many of which are essential for the metabolism of soil organisms and vascular plants, may be altered due to climate change-driven increases in aridity. Biocrusts, soil surface communities dominated by lichens, bryophytes and cyanobacteria, are ecosystem engineers known to exert critical functions in dryland ecosystems. However, their role in regulating metallic nutrient availability under climate change is uncertain. Here, we evaluated whether well-developed biocrusts modulate metallic nutrient availability in response to 7 years of experimental warming and rainfall reduction in a Mediterranean dryland located in southeastern Spain. We found increases in the availability of K, Mg, Zn and Na under warming and rainfall exclusion. However, the presence of a well-developed biocrust cover buffered these effects, most likely because its constituents can uptake significant quantities of available metallic nutrients. Our findings suggest that biocrusts, a biotic community prevalent in drylands, exert an important role in preserving and protecting metallic nutrients in dryland soils from leaching and erosion. Therefore, we highlight the need to protect them to mitigate undesired effects of soil degradation driven by climate change in this globally expanding biome. Eduardo Moreno-Jimenez et al. experimentally manipulate rainfall and temperature in a Mediterranean dryland to explore the association of biocrusts with essential metallic nutrients. They find that biocrusts-communities of lichens, bryophytes and cyanobacteria on the soil surface-can buffer against the effects of warming and reduced rainfall on metallic nutrient availability.
PB NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
SN 2399-3642
YR 2020
FD 2020-06
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10498/23481
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10498/23481
LA eng
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Cádiz
RD 16-ene-2021