Publication: Morfología Fluvial.-Physico-chemical and spectral characteristics of soil crusts in semiarid areas. An ecosystem condition index?
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Chamizo, S. ; Miralles, I. ; Cantón, Y. ; Lazaro, R. ; Solé-Benet, A. ; Domingo, F.
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Abstract
ABSTRACT
Physical and biological soil crusts occupy a wide extension in arid and semiarid areas
all over the world. Numerous authors consider Biological Soil Crusts (BSC) as
ecosystem engineers in arid lands because they control resource availability, through
the regulation of the water balance, reduction of erosion and enhancement of soil
fertility via nitrogen and carbon fixation. Evidences exist of the replacement of some
types of BSC by other crust types over time and different types have different effects
on resource availability. Therefore, the relative abundance and distribution of the
different development stages of BSC can be considered as a soil quality indicator
which includes information about the dynamic condition of the ecosystem, as well as its
degree of maturity and conservation, as BSC extend slowly. The objective of this work
is to verify if the physicochemical characteristics in the crust and the subjacent soil get
better as BSC development increases, so the distribution of soil crusts (in different
stages of development) in an ecosystem will be largely related to soil physicochemical
conditions. Two semiarid areas in the province of Almeria were chosen: El Cautivo
(Tabernas) and Amoladeras (Cabo de Gata) and the most representative physical and
biological soil crusts were identified at both sites. The stage of development of BSC
was considered. For each crust type, physical and chemical characteristics for the crust
and the soil underneath were sampled and some spectral features of BSC were
measured as an indicator of photosynthetic activity, using a portable
spectroradiometer. Amoladeras appeared as an ecosystem with improved
physicochemical characteristics in the two sampled fractions in comparison with El
Cautivo (a badlands area), except water retention capacity, due to textural differences.
Furthermore, the deepness of the absorption peak at 680 nm was higher in the BSC of
Amoladeras than of El Cautivo. At both sites, water retention capacity, nitrogen and
carbon content were higher in the BSC than in the physical crust both in the crust and
the subjacent soil. These parameters, also at both sites, increased along with BSC
development both in the crust and the in subjacent soil, except for the soil C and N
content in Amoladeras.
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