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Slate ML, Antoninka A, Bailey L, Berdugo MB, Callaghan DA, Cárdenas M, Chmielewski MW, Fenton NJ, Holland-Moritz H, Hopkins S, Jean M, Kraichak BE, Lindo Z, Merced A, Oke T, Stanton D, Stuart J, Tucker D, Coe KK. Impact of changing climate on bryophyte contributions to terrestrial water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles. THE NEW PHYTOLOGIST 2024; 242:2411-2429. [PMID: 38659154 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Bryophytes, including the lineages of mosses, liverworts, and hornworts, are the second-largest photoautotroph group on Earth. Recent work across terrestrial ecosystems has highlighted how bryophytes retain and control water, fix substantial amounts of carbon (C), and contribute to nitrogen (N) cycles in forests (boreal, temperate, and tropical), tundra, peatlands, grasslands, and deserts. Understanding how changing climate affects bryophyte contributions to global cycles in different ecosystems is of primary importance. However, because of their small physical size, bryophytes have been largely ignored in research on water, C, and N cycles at global scales. Here, we review the literature on how bryophytes influence global biogeochemical cycles, and we highlight that while some aspects of global change represent critical tipping points for survival, bryophytes may also buffer many ecosystems from change due to their capacity for water, C, and N uptake and storage. However, as the thresholds of resistance of bryophytes to temperature and precipitation regime changes are mostly unknown, it is challenging to predict how long this buffering capacity will remain functional. Furthermore, as ecosystems shift their global distribution in response to changing climate, the size of different bryophyte-influenced biomes will change, resulting in shifts in the magnitude of bryophyte impacts on global ecosystem functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mandy L Slate
- Department of Evolution, Ecology & Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA
| | - Anita Antoninka
- School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86005, USA
| | - Lydia Bailey
- School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, 86005, USA
| | - Monica B Berdugo
- Plant Ecology and Geobotany, Department of Biology, University of Marburg, Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8, 35043, Marburg, Germany
| | - Des A Callaghan
- Bryophyte Surveys Ltd, Almondsbury, South Gloucestershire, BS32 4DU, UK
| | - Mariana Cárdenas
- Department of Ecology Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | | | - Nicole J Fenton
- Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, J9X 5E4, Canada
| | - Hannah Holland-Moritz
- Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA
| | - Samantha Hopkins
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Mélanie Jean
- Université de Moncton, Moncton, NB, E1A 3E9, Canada
| | - Bier Ekaphan Kraichak
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Bangkok, 10900, Thailand
| | - Zoë Lindo
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A 3K7, Canada
| | - Amelia Merced
- Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras, San Juan, PR, 00925, USA
| | - Tobi Oke
- Wildlife Conservation Society & School of Environment & Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5C8, Canada
| | - Daniel Stanton
- Department of Ecology Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA
| | - Julia Stuart
- College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA
- Mountain Planning Service Group, US Forest Service, Lakewood, CO, 80401, USA
| | - Daniel Tucker
- School of Environmental Studies, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada
| | - Kirsten K Coe
- Department of Biology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, 05753, USA
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Jech SD, Day N, Barger NN, Antoninka A, Bowker MA, Reed S, Tucker C. Cultivating Resilience in Dryland Soils: An Assisted Migration Approach to Biological Soil Crust Restoration. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2570. [PMID: 37894228 PMCID: PMC10608944 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11102570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 10/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Land use practices and climate change have driven substantial soil degradation across global drylands, impacting ecosystem functions and human livelihoods. Biological soil crusts, a common feature of dryland ecosystems, are under extensive exploration for their potential to restore the stability and fertility of degraded soils through the development of inoculants. However, stressful abiotic conditions often result in the failure of inoculation-based restoration in the field and may hinder the long-term success of biocrust restoration efforts. Taking an assisted migration approach, we cultivated biocrust inocula sourced from multiple hot-adapted sites (Mojave and Sonoran Deserts) in an outdoor facility at a cool desert site (Colorado Plateau). In addition to cultivating inoculum from each site, we created an inoculum mixture of biocrust from the Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, and Colorado Plateau. We then applied two habitat amelioration treatments to the cultivation site (growth substrate and shading) to enhance soil stability and water availability and reduce UV stress. Using marker gene sequencing, we found that the cultivated mixed inoculum comprised both local- and hot-adapted cyanobacteria at the end of cultivation but had similar cyanobacterial richness as each unmixed inoculum. All cultivated inocula had more cyanobacterial 16S rRNA gene copies and higher cyanobacterial richness when cultivated with a growth substrate and shade. Our work shows that it is possible to field cultivate biocrust inocula sourced from different deserts, but that community composition shifts toward that of the cultivation site unless habitat amelioration is employed. Future assessments of the function of a mixed inoculum in restoration and its resilience in the face of abiotic stressors are needed to determine the relative benefit of assisted migration compared to the challenges and risks of this approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sierra D Jech
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Natalie Day
- Colorado Water Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Grand Junction, CO 81506, USA
| | - Nichole N Barger
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Anita Antoninka
- School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
| | - Matthew A Bowker
- School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
- Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
| | - Sasha Reed
- Southwest Biological Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Moab, UT 84532, USA
| | - Colin Tucker
- Manti-La Sal National Forest, U.S. Forest Service, Monticello, UT 84535, USA
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Short-Term Vegetation Restoration Enhances the Complexity of Soil Fungal Network and Decreased the Complexity of Bacterial Network. J Fungi (Basel) 2022; 8:jof8111122. [PMID: 36354889 PMCID: PMC9695196 DOI: 10.3390/jof8111122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Revised: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Different vegetation restoration methods may affect the soil’s physicochemical properties and microbial communities. However, it is not known how the microbial network’s complexity of the bacterial and fungal communities respond to short-term vegetation restoration. We conducted a short-term ecological restoration experiment to reveal the response of the soil’s microbial community and microbial network’s stability to initial vegetation restoration during the restoration of the degraded grassland ecosystem. The two restoration methods (sowing alfalfa (Medicago sativa, AF) and smooth brome (Bromus inermis, SB)) had no significant effect on the alpha diversity of the fungal community, but the SB significantly increased the alpha diversity of the soil surface bacterial community (p < 0.01). The results of NMDS showed that the soil’s fungal and bacterial communities were altered by a short-term vegetation restoration, and they showed that the available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), and nitrate nitrogen (nitrate-N) were closely related to changes in bacterial and fungal communities. Moreover, a short-term vegetation restoration significantly increased the complexity and stability of fungi ecological networks, but the opposite was the case with the bacteria. Our findings confirm that ecological restoration by sowing may be favorable to the amelioration of soil fungi complexity and stability in the short-term. Such findings may have important implications for soil microbial processes in vegetation recovery.
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Shcherbyna VV, Maltseva IA, Maltseva HV, Zhukov OV. Effects of fires on vascular plant and microalgae communities of steppe ecosystems. BIOSYSTEMS DIVERSITY 2021. [DOI: 10.15421/012101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The article is focused on a hypothesis verification: the higher plants, microalgae and cyanobacteria may be used in bioindication of steppe ecosystem restoration dynamics after fires. On the territory of the Askania Nova biosphere reserve (Ukraine) 4 stationary polygons were investigated: SP1 – steppe area which had not been exposed to fire for 20 years preceding our study, as well as areas where single fires occurred in 2001 (SP2), 2005 (SP3), and a site where fires occurred in 2001 and 2004 (SP4). The investigation revealed the dynamics of height and projected area of the higher vegetation according to seasons during two years (2010 and 2011), as well as abundance and biomass of microalgae and cyanoprokaryotes in the soil layer by the layer of the depth to 15 cm. It was found that the effects of pyrogenic load remain evident for several years after the fires, manifesting in decrease of the height and projected area of herbage, the number and biomass of algae and cyanobacteria in the soil, especially to the depth of 5 cm. Multivariate general linear models were used to test the significance of the dependence of quantitative characteristics of vegetation, microalgae, and cyanoprokaryotes on environmental predictors (season, year, soil layer, and fire). In the model, 75.2% of the grass height variability and 91.6% of the grass projected area variability could be explained by the predictors under consideration. In the series SP1 → SP2 → SP3 → SP4 the grass height and projected area decreased. The differences in the projected area of the grass stand were most evident in spring. The model explained 89.1% of the variation in abundance and 91.6% of the variation in biomass of Bacillariophyceae. The abundance of Bacillariophyceae was greater in the upper soil layer than in the lower layer and decreased with depth. The abundance of this group of algae decreased in the series SP1 → SP2 → SP3 → SP4 at depths of 0–5 and 5–10 cm. Changes in abundances of Chlorophyta, Streptophyta, Heterokontophyta (Xanthophyceae and Eustigmatophyceae) equaling 47.6% could also be explained by the model. The abundance of this group of algae was greatest in the upper soil layer. In the upper soil layer, the maximum abundance of Chlorophyta, Streptophyta, and Heterokontophyta (Xanthophyceae and Eustigmatophyceae) was recorded for Polygon SP1 and the minimum for Polygon SP3. Within the model, 48.0% of the variation in biomass of Chlorophyta, Streptophyta, and Heterokontophyta (Xanthophyceae and Eustigmatophyceae) was explained by the environmental predictors. The biomass trend was coherent with the population trend. A special feature was that there was a significant increase in biomass at 10–15 cm depth at Polygon SP3 compared to other polygons at this depth. The model was able to explain 61.8% of the variation in abundance and 66.7% of the variation in cyanobacteria biomass. The highest abundance of cyanobacteria was found in the upper soil layer of polygon SP1. Somewhat lower numbers of cyanobacteria were at polygons SP2 and SP4, and the lowest were found in the upper soil layer at polygon SP3. In turn, the highest number of cyanobacteria was found particularly at this polygon in the 5–10 cm layer. The biomass in the 0–5 cm layer was coherent with the abundance pattern of this group. The research results confirmed that the quantitative characteristics of the higher vegetation (height and projected area) as well as of microalgae and cyanobacteria (abundance and biomass) may be used in bioindication of the dynamics of post-pyrogenic processes in steppe ecosystems.
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Biodiversity of Algae and Cyanobacteria in Biological Soil Crusts Collected Along a Climatic Gradient in Chile Using an Integrative Approach. Microorganisms 2020; 8:microorganisms8071047. [PMID: 32674483 PMCID: PMC7409284 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms8071047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2020] [Revised: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Biocrusts are associations of various prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms in the top millimeters of soil, which can be found in every climate zone on Earth. They stabilize soils and introduce carbon and nitrogen into this compartment. The worldwide occurrence of biocrusts was proven by numerous studies in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, leaving South America understudied. Using an integrative approach, which combines morphological and molecular characters (small subunit rRNA and ITS region), we examined the diversity of key biocrust photosynthetic organisms at four sites along the latitudinal climate gradient in Chile. The most northern study site was located in the Atacama Desert (arid climate), followed by open shrubland (semiarid climate), a dry forest region (Mediterranean climate) and a mixed broad leaved-coniferous forest (temperate climate) in the south. The lowest species richness was recorded in the desert (18 species), whereas the highest species richness was observed in the Mediterranean zone (40 species). Desert biocrusts were composed exclusively of single-celled Chlorophyta algae, followed by cyanobacteria. Chlorophyta, Streptophyta and cyanobacteria dominated semiarid biocrusts, whereas Mediterranean and temperate Chilean biocrusts were composed mostly of Chlorophyta, Streptophyta and Ochrophyta. Our investigation of Chilean biocrust suggests high biodiversity of South American biocrust phototrophs.
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Antoninka A, Faist A, Rodriguez‐Caballero E, Young KE, Chaudhary VB, Condon LA, Pyke DA. Biological soil crusts in ecological restoration: emerging research and perspectives. Restor Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/rec.13201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Anita Antoninka
- School of Forestry Northern Arizona University 200 E Pine Knoll Drive, Flagstaff AZ 86011 U.S.A
| | - Akasha Faist
- Department of Animal and Range Sciences New Mexico State University Box 30003 MSC 3‐I, Las Cruces NM 88003 U.S.A
| | - Emilio Rodriguez‐Caballero
- Centro de Investigación de Colecciones Científicas de la Universidad de Almería (CECOUAL) University of Almería 04120 Almería Spain
| | - Kristina E. Young
- Department of Biological Sciences University of Texas at El Paso 500 West University Avenue, El Paso TX 79968 U.S.A
| | - V. Bala Chaudhary
- Department of Environmental Science and Studies DePaul University 1110 West Belden Avenue, Chicago IL 60614 U.S.A
| | - Lea A. Condon
- U.S. Geological Survey Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center Corvallis OR 97331 U.S.A
| | - David A. Pyke
- U.S. Geological Survey Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center Corvallis OR 97331 U.S.A
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