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Ecophysiological analysis of moss-dominated biological soil crusts and their separate components from the Succulent Karoo, South Africa

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Abstract

Biological soil crusts, formed by an association of soil particles with cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, fungi and bacteria in varying proportions, live in or directly on top of the uppermost soil layer. To evaluate their role in the global carbon cycle, gas exchange measurements were conducted under controlled conditions. Moss-dominated soil crusts were first analyzed as moss tufts on soil, then the mosses were removed and the soil was analyzed separately to obtain the physiological response of both soil and individual moss stems. Net photosynthetic response of moss stems and complete crusts was decreased by insufficient and excess amounts of water, resulting in optimum curves with similar ranges of optimum water content. Light saturation of both sample types occurred at high irradiance, but moss stems reached light compensation and saturation points at lower values. Optimum temperatures of moss stems ranged between 22 and 27°C, whereas complete crusts reached similar net photosynthesis between 7 and 27°C. Under optimum conditions, moss stems reached higher net photosynthesis (4.0 vs. 2.8 μmol m−2 s−1) and lower dark respiration rates (−0.9 vs. −2.4 μmol m−2 s−1). Respiration rates of soil without moss stems were high (up to −2.0 μmol m−2 s−1) causing by far lower absolute values of NP/DR ratios of soil crusts as compared to moss stems. In carbon balances, it therefore has to be clearly distinguished between measurements of soil crust components versus complete crusts. High rates of soil respiration may be caused by leaching of mosses, creating high-nutrient microsites that favor microorganism growth.

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Abbreviations

BSC:

Biological soil crust

DR:

Dark respiration

GP:

Gross photosynthesis

NP:

Net photosynthesis

PPFD:

Photosynthetic photon flux density

WC:

Water content

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (Project numbers WE 2393/2-1, WE 2393/2-2). Research in South Africa was conducted with South African research permits (No. 22/2008 and 38/2009) and the appendant export permits. We would like to thank H. Reichenberger and C. Colesie for their advice on gas exchange measurements and B. Büdel for the instrument loan. Our special thanks go to T.G.A. Green for valuable comments and improvement of the English text.

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  1. Department of Biology, Plant Ecology and Systematics, University of Kaiserslautern, P.O. Box 3049, 67653, Kaiserslautern, Germany

    Bettina Weber, Tobias Graf & Matthias Bass

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  1. Bettina Weber
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  2. Tobias Graf
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  3. Matthias Bass
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Correspondence to Bettina Weber.

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Weber, B., Graf, T. & Bass, M. Ecophysiological analysis of moss-dominated biological soil crusts and their separate components from the Succulent Karoo, South Africa. Planta 236, 129–139 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-012-1595-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-012-1595-0

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