Biological soil crusts are complex assemblages of phototrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms, including cyanobacteria, green algae, fungi, lichens, and bryophytes, that colonize the uppermost millimeters of soil in arid and semiarid ecosystems. They form a cohesive matrix through exopolysaccharide production and filament entanglement, stabilizing soil surfaces, reducing erosion, and modulating hydrological processes such as infiltration and evaporation. Biocrusts significantly influence biogeochemical cycles by fixing atmospheric carbon and nitrogen, altering soil nutrient availability, and affecting dust emission. They exhibit high spatial and taxonomic heterogeneity, strong sensitivity to physical disturbance and climate change, and play critical roles in primary succession and ecosystem functioning in dryland environments.
Soils store more carbon than the atmosphere and vegetation combined, with soil microorganisms playing the main role. As a result, the global soil carbon cycle—by which carbon enters, moves through, and leaves soils worldwide—exerts ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 19, 2026
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3696
In a new study published in New Phytologist on Nov. 23, Prof. Zeng Fanjiang's team from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has identified the key pathway driving the soil carbon ...
Ecology
Nov 28, 2025
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17
A research team led by Prof. Li Yuqiang from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (NIEER) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has uncovered the mechanisms behind the formation of self-organized Turing patterns ...
Ecology
Aug 6, 2025
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14
A new study published in The Innovation has revealed the microstructure and expansion mechanism of cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crusts (BSCs). By employing micro-scale X-ray computed tomography (X-ray microCT), ...
Ecology
Jun 11, 2025
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21
