Accelerating the formation of biological soil crusts in the newly dried-up lakebeds using the inoculation-based technique

The disappearance of water bodies and the emergence of dry lakebeds have intensified global environmental challenges such as dust source regions and moving dunes. The rapid formation of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) in these new ecosystems can help to accelerate their sustainability. Thus, we a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Science of the total environment 2020-03, Vol.706, p.136036-136036, Article 136036
Main Authors: Kheirfam, Hossein, Roohi, Maryam
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cyanobacteria
Dried-up lakes
Dust storms
Ecosystem
Ecosystem restoration
Iran
Lake Urmia
Soil
Soil cyanobacteria
Soil Microbiology
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Summary:The disappearance of water bodies and the emergence of dry lakebeds have intensified global environmental challenges such as dust source regions and moving dunes. The rapid formation of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) in these new ecosystems can help to accelerate their sustainability. Thus, we assessed how an inoculation-based technique (IBT) could contribute to the formation of biocrusts in a simulated sandy soil profile collected from the dried region of Lake Urmia, in the northwest of Iran. To this end, a full factorial combination of native bacteria, cyanobacteria, and a combination of the two were inoculated onto an experimental soil. After 120 days, the soil surface properties were measured, and the differences between the treatments were tested. The results showed that microbial inoculation, especially cyanobacteria, accelerated the biocrusts formation and the soil surface stability. Inoculated micro-organisms improved the biocrusts indicators including carbon (225%; p 
ISSN:0048-9697
1879-1026
DOI:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.136036