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Home > Impacts of biological soil crust disturbance and composition on C and N loss from water erosion

Impacts of biological soil crust disturbance and composition on C and N loss from water erosion [1]

TitleImpacts of biological soil crust disturbance and composition on C and N loss from water erosion
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2006
AuthorsBarger N.N [2], Herrick JE [3], Van Zee JW [4], Belnap J [5]
JournalBiogeochemistry
Volume77
Start Page247
Pagination247-263
Date Published01/2006
ARIS Log Number179554
KeywordsBiological soil crust [6], Canyonlands National Park [7], carbon [8], Colorado Plateau [9], disturbance [10], erosion [11], nitrogen [12], rainfall simulation [13], runoff [14]
Abstract

In this study, we conducted rainfall simulation experiments in a cool desert ecosystem to examine the role of biological soil crust disturbance and composition on dissolved and sediment C and N losses. We compared runoff and sediment C and N losses from intact latesuccessional dark cyanolichen crusts (intact) to both trampled dark crusts (trampled) and dark crusts where the top 1 cm of the soil surface was removed (scraped). In a second experiment, we compared C and N losses in runoff and sediments in early-successional light cyanobacterial crusts (light) to that of intact late-successional dark cyanolichen crusts (dark). A relatively high rainfall intensity of approximately 38 mm per 10-min period was used to ensure that at least some runoff was generated from all plots. Losses of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic nitrogen (DON), and ammonium (NH4 + ) were significantly higher from trampled plots as compared to scraped and intact plots. Sediment C and N losses, which made up more than 98% of total nutrient losses in all treatments, were more than 4-fold higher from trampled plots relative to intact plots (sediment C g/m2, intact = 0.74, trampled = 3.47; sediment N g/m2, intact = 0.06, trampled = 0.28). In light crusts, DOC loss was higher relative to dark crusts, but no differences were observed in dissolved N. Higher sediment loss in light crusts relative to dark crusts resulted in 5-fold higher loss of sediment-bound C and N. Total C flux (sediment + dissolved) was on the order of 0.9 and 7.9 g/m2 for dark and light crusts, respectively.  Sediment N concentration in the first minutes after runoff from light crusts was 3-fold higher than the percent N of the top 1 cm of soil, suggesting that even short-term runoff events may have a high potential for N loss due to the movement of sediments highly enriched in N. Total N loss from dark crusts was an order of magnitude lower than light crusts (dark = 0.06 g N/m2, light = 0.63 g/m2). Overall, our results from the small plot scale (0.5 m2) suggest that C and N losses are much lower from intact late-successional cyanolichen crusts as compared to recently disturbed or early-successional light cyanobacterial crusts.

URL/files/bibliography/06-070.pdf [15]
DOI10.1007/s10533-005-1424-7 [16]

                      

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Source URL: https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio/impacts-biological-soil-crust-disturbance-and-composition-c-and-n-loss-water-erosion

Links
[1] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio/impacts-biological-soil-crust-disturbance-and-composition-c-and-n-loss-water-erosion
[2] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=303
[3] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=14
[4] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=337
[5] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=89
[6] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=1636
[7] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=1637
[8] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=336
[9] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=95
[10] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=118
[11] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=90
[12] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=338
[13] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=301
[14] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=601
[15] https://jornada.nmsu.edu/files/bibliography/06-070.pdf
[16] http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10533-005-1424-7