Editorial for a special issue on Biocrusts in Frontiers in Microbiology can be found here. The special issue consists of 25 articles which can be downloaded as an e-book here. The remit for submissions is reproduced below: Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are widely distributed throughout the world, and cover approximately …
Biological soil crusts, or biocrusts, are microbial communities found in soil surfaces in drylands and in other locations where vascular plant cover is incomplete. They are functionally significant for numerous ecosystem services, most notably in the C fixation and storage due to the ubiquity of photosynthetic microbes. Whereas carbon fixation …
Soil biocrusts, formed from communities of microbes and their extracellular products are a common feature of dryland soil surfaces. Biocrust organisms are only intermittently metabolically active, but due to their ubiquity they make a significant contribution to the carbon cycle. Quantification of the controls and insights into the interlinked process of photosynthesis and respiration are …
Microbial communities of dryland ephemeral lake bed, dunes, and river channels are characterised – Wind preferentially mobilises specific microbes from soil surface biocrusts – Microbial dispersal adaptations may influence soil stability by promoting or inhibiting adhesion
Biocrusts are recognised for numerous beneficial functions in dryland environments including the promotion of surface stability, moisture retention, and sequestration of carbon and nitrogen from the air which enriches the soil. In microbial biocrusts these benefits are delivered as a consequence of the microbial community adaptations for survival. The biocrust …
Although the term ‘wetlands in drylands’ sounds like a contradiction, many drylands host a range of ephemeral wetlands. Pans, for example, are widespread features in many drylands, representing topographic depressions of varying size and shape that host ephemeral, sometimes saline, bodies of shallow water following infrequent precipitation or river flooding …
Dryland soils are particularly vulnerable to erosion because of low plant cover and low organic matter which is linked with water availability and biological constraints. It is increasingly recognised that dryland soils can be managed to minimise erosion, which has benefits such as increasing soil fertility, carbon storage, and prevention …
Land use change in the rangelands of Botswana is affecting soil properties. Pastoralism is the only viable livelihood for many rural poor in Botswana, and privatization of communal land is reducing the area of grazing available to those without land tenure. This has elevated stocking densities in communal areas, increasing …
This is a gallery about Australian biocrusts and contains 13 images.
MMU Engage interviewed me for British Science Week to find out about the research being done at MMU by various researchers. In the video I explain how we extracted DNA from the sand of the Kalahari in Botswana, which we then used to identify the microbial communities that glue the …