Feasibility of cyanobacterial inoculation for biological soil crusts formation in desert area

Practical testing of the feasibility of cyanobacterial inoculation to speed up the recovery of biological soil crusts in the field was conducted in this experiment. Results showed that cyanobacterial and algal cover climbed up to 48.5% and a total of 14 cyanobacterial and algal species were identified at the termination of inoculation experiment; biological crusts' thickness, compressive and chlorophyll a content increased with inoculation time among 3 years; moss species appeared in the second year; cyanobacterial inoculation increased organic carbon and total nitrogen of the soil; total salt, calcium carbonate and electrical conductivity in the soil also increased after inoculation. Diverse vascular plant communities composed of 10 and 9 species are established by cyanobacterial inoculation on the windward and leeward surface of the dunes, respectively, after 3 years. The Simpson index for the above two communities are 0.842 and 0.852, while the Shannon-Weiner index are 2.097 and 2.053, respectively. In conclusion, we suggest that cyanobacterial inoculation would be a suitable and effective technique to recover biological soil crusts, and may further restore the ecological system. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Effects of sand burial on biomass, chlorophyll fluorescence and extracellular polysaccharides of man-made cyanobacterial crusts under experimental conditions

Soil cyanobacterial crusts occur throughout the world, especially in the semiarid and arid regions. It always encounters sand burial, which is an important feature of mobile sand dunes. A greenhouse 41 study was conducted to determine the effects of sand burial on biomass, chlorophyll fluorescence and extracellular polysaccharides of man-made cyanobacterial crusts in six periods of time (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 d after burying) and at five depths (0, 0.2, 0.5, 1 and 2cm). The results indicated that with the increase of the burial time and burial depth extracellular polysaccharides content and Fv/Fm decreased correspondingly and there were no significant differences between 20 and 30 burial days under different burial depths. The degradation of chlorophyll a content appeared only at 20 and 30 burial days and there was also no significant difference between them under different burial depths. It was also observed a simultaneous decrease of the values of the Fv/Fm and the content of extracellular polysaccharides happened in the crusted cyanobacterium Microcoleus vaginatus Gom. It may suggest that there exists a relationship between extracellular polysaccharides and recovery of the activity of photosystem II (PS II) after rehydration.

有性繁殖在沙丘植被恢复中的作用

有性繁殖是植物适应干扰的重要机制。目前，人们对于植物如何从有性繁殖方面适应风沙环境还知之甚少。本论文以半干旱草原区的科尔沁沙地为对象，采用实验室分析、模拟试验、野外调查等方法，研究了种子形态及其功能意义、种子传播与植物沙生适应性的关系、埋藏种子萌发与沙丘植物更新的关系，探讨了沙丘土壤种子库时空格局、土壤种子库持久性与沙丘植被恢复的关系，揭示了生殖物候对植物沙生适应性的影响，探索了有性繁殖在多年生沙生植物适应风蚀中的作用。 研究结果表明：（1）沙生植物通过调节种子重量和形状降低种子位移，增大幼苗补充几率；（2）沙生植物通过将种子脱落推迟至“风季结束、雨季来临”时期，或者通过种子遇水溶出粘液粘沙增大重量，分摊干旱和风沙干扰给幼苗补充带来的风险，维持种群繁衍；（3）埋藏能调节沙生植物种子萌发时间和萌发率；（4）沙生植物通过生殖物候可塑性和延长结实期增强沙生适应性；（5）沙生植物具有持久种子库，能提供稳定种源；（6）多年生沙生植物可通过有性繁殖适应风蚀，入侵流动沙丘区。本研究为植物有性繁殖研究提供了方法论借鉴。根据研究结果我们提出了沙丘植被恢复和管理建议。

Migration of large-scale subaqueous bedforms measured with seagrasses(Cymudocea nodesa) as tracers

The vertical growth of seagrasses in response to burial by migration of bedforms is combined with dating techniques to provide precise and rapid estimates of the migration speed of subaqueous dunes over seagrass patches. Two methods to estimate the time interval between the passage of successive dunes and the motion of single dunes through seagrass patches are described. The second method is more precise. The application of these methods to vegetated (Cymodocea nodosa) subaqueous dunes in the Alfacs Bay (NW Mediterranean) showed that the dunes traveled at an average speed of $13.0 \pm 0.6 m yr^-1$ and demonstrated that the methods can resolve migration speeds from 0.15 to $980 m yr^-1$ with this particular seagrass species. In areas vegetated with different seagrass species, bedform migration can be estimated over different time scales. The strong coupling between seagrass and sediment dynamics resembles the coupling of vegetation and land dunes.

Coupling of seagrass (Cymodocea nodosa) patch dynamics to subaqueous dune migratio

The coupling between patch dynamics - described by the patch growth (horizontal and vertical), patch mortality, and life-history of Cymodocea nodosa (Ucria) Aschers., and the disturbance caused by the migration of subaqueous dunes over the plants was examined in a shallow NW Mediterranean bay (Alfacs Bay) where this species maintains a patchy cover. C. nodosa shoots survived substantial burial rates (up to 2.4 mm/day) by growing vertically at rates proportional to, albeit four-fold slower than, burial rates. Patch death was caused by erosion as large subaqueous dunes migrated pass the plant patch. Patch growth was fastest over the progressing slope of the dunes ( similar to 2.5 m year super(-1)) and flowering was also stimulated by sand accretion. The time interval between the passage of consecutive dunes, which sets the time window available for patch development, ranged between 2 and 6 years. This time interval allowed C. nodosa to recolonize bare substrata, with patch formation occurring about half a year after the disturbance, and also allowed established shoots to complete their life-cycle and produce seeds and thus enable subsequent recolonization. The time windows available for patch development also set an upper limit to patch size of about 26 m. Significant cross correlations between dune topography and patch dynamics and plant flowering frequency provide evidence that the spatial heterogeneity in the vegetation is closely associated with the disturbance imposed by the migration of sand dunes. The migration of subaqueous dunes maintains C. nodosa in a continuous state of colonization involving spatially asynchronous patch growth and subsequent mortality, which is ultimately responsible for the characteristic patchy landscape of this Bay.