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Biological Soil Crust Microsites Are the Main Contributor to Soil Respiration in a Semiarid Ecosystem

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Abstract

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are a key biotic component of dryland ecosystems worldwide. However, most studies carried out to date on carbon (C) fluxes in these ecosystems, such as soil respiration, have neglected them. We conducted a 3.5-year field experiment to evaluate the spatio-temporal heterogeneity of soil respiration in a semiarid Stipa tenacissima steppe and to assess the contribution of BSC-dominated areas to the annual soil respiration of the whole ecosystem. We selected the six most frequent microsites in the study area: Stipa tussocks (ST), Retama sphaerocarpa shrubs (RS), and open areas with very low (<5% BSC cover, BS), low, medium and high cover of well-developed BSCs. Soil respiration rates did not differ among BSC-dominated microsites but were significantly higher and lower than those found in BS and ST microsites, respectively. A model using soil temperature and soil moisture accounted for over 85% of the temporal variation in soil respiration throughout the studied period. Using this model, we estimated a range of 240.4–322.6 g C m−2 y−1 released by soil respiration at our study area. Vegetated (ST and RS) and BSC-dominated microsites accounted for 37 and 42% of this amount, respectively. Our results indicate that accounting for the spatial heterogeneity in soil respiration induced by BSCs is crucial to provide accurate estimations of this flux at the ecosystem level. They also highlight that BSC-dominated areas are the main contributor to the total C released by soil respiration and, therefore, must be considered when estimating C budgets in drylands.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Escolar, R. Mau, M. Carpio, E. Pigem, P. Alonso, C. Alcalá, J. Papadopoulos, P. Izquierdo, J. Gutiérrez, M. Méndez, R. Jiménez, A. Escudero, I. Martínez, and I. Conde for their help in laboratory and in the fieldwork, and R. Lázaro, J. Cortina, M. Goberna, A. Escudero, L. García-Sancho, J. Neff, and two anonymous referees for comments on a previous version of the manuscript. We thank the Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA) for access to the Aranjuez Experimental Station (Finca de Sotomayor). APC, SS, and PGP were supported by Ph.D. fellowships from the INTERCAMBIO (BIOCON06/105) and EXPERTAL grants, funded by the Fundación BBVA and Fundación Biodiversidad/CINTRA S.A., respectively. This research was funded by an Early Career Project Grant from the British Ecological Society (ECPG 231/607), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant CGL2008-00986-E/BOS), by the INTERCAMBIO grant, and by the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant agreement no. 242658 (BIOCOM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología, Escuela Superior de Ciencias Experimentales y Tecnología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, 28933, Móstoles, Spain

    Andrea P. Castillo-Monroy, Fernando T. Maestre, Santiago Soliveres & Pablo García-Palacios

  2. Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, EEZA-CSIC, Crta. de Sacramento s/n, La Cañada de San Urbano, 04120, Almería, Spain

    Ana Rey

  3. Instituto de Recursos Naturales, Centro de Ciencias Medioambientales, C.S.I.C., Serrano 115, 28006, Madrid, Spain

    Santiago Soliveres & Pablo García-Palacios

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  1. Andrea P. Castillo-Monroy
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  2. Fernando T. Maestre
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  3. Ana Rey
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  4. Santiago Soliveres
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  5. Pablo García-Palacios
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Correspondence to Fernando T. Maestre.

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Author Contributions

FTM conceived the study; APCM, FTM, SS and PGP performed the research; APCM and AR analyzed the data; and APCM and FTM wrote the paper.

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Castillo-Monroy, A.P., Maestre, F.T., Rey, A. et al. Biological Soil Crust Microsites Are the Main Contributor to Soil Respiration in a Semiarid Ecosystem. Ecosystems 14, 835–847 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-011-9449-3

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