10.5061/DRYAD.C2PD5
Escolar, Cristina
King Juan Carlos University
Martínez, Isabel
King Juan Carlos University
Bowker, Matthew A.
Northern Arizona University
Maestre, Fernando T.
King Juan Carlos University
Martinez, I.
King Juan Carlos University
Data from: Warming reduces the growth and diversity of biological soil
crusts in a semi-arid environment: implications for ecosystem structure
and functioning
Dryad
dataset
2012
Squamarina lentigera
Mosses
dryland
Diploschistes diacapsis
lichens
semi-arid
Holocene
biological soil crusts
2012-10-11T16:56:35Z
2012-10-11T16:56:35Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2011.0344
18819 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are key biotic components of dryland
ecosystems worldwide that control many functional processes, including
carbon and nitrogen cycling, soil stabilization, and infiltration.
Regardless of their ecological importance and prevalence in drylands, very
few studies have explicitly evaluated how climate change will affect the
structure and composition of BSCs, and the functioning of their
constituents. Using a manipulative experiment conducted over three years
in a semi-arid site from central Spain, we evaluated how the composition,
structure and performance of lichen-dominated BSCs respond to a 2.4 ºC
increase in temperature, and to a ~ 30% reduction of total annual
rainfall. In areas with well-developed BSCs, warming promoted a
significant decrease in the richness and diversity of the whole BSC
community. This was accompanied by important compositional changes, as the
cover of lichens suffered a substantial decrease with warming (from 70% to
40% on average), while that of mosses increased slightly (from 0.3% to 7%
on average). The physiological performance of the BSC community, evaluated
using chlorophyll fluorescence, increased with warming during the first
year of the experiment, but did not respond to rainfall reduction. Our
results indicate that ongoing climate change will strongly affect the
diversity and composition of BSC communities, as well as their recovery
after disturbances. The expected changes in richness and composition under
warming could reduce or even reverse the positive effects of BSCs on
important soil processes. Thus, these changes are likely to promote an
overall reduction in ecosystem processes that sustain and control nutrient
cycling, soil stabilization and water dynamics.
Escolar_PTRSB_2011_0344R1This zip file contains a series of tab-delimited
text files containing data on the cover, richness, diversity, evenness and
Fv/Fm data of the whole biological soil crust community, as well as on the
cover of mosses, lichens and the two dominant lichen species in the study
area (Squamarina lentigera and Diploschistes diacapsis). See materials and
methods in the main text for all the details.
40º02’N
Mediterranean
3º32’W
Aranjuez
Spain