Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological model
Biocrusts are ecosystem engineers in drylands and structure the landscape through their ecohydrological effects. They regulate soil infiltration and evaporation but also surface water redistribution, providing important resources for vascular vegetation. Spatially-explicit ecohydrological models are...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1179291/full |
| _version_ | 1827915421144055808 |
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| author | Selina Baldauf Yolanda Cantón Yolanda Cantón Britta Tietjen Britta Tietjen |
| author_facet | Selina Baldauf Yolanda Cantón Yolanda Cantón Britta Tietjen Britta Tietjen |
| author_sort | Selina Baldauf |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Biocrusts are ecosystem engineers in drylands and structure the landscape through their ecohydrological effects. They regulate soil infiltration and evaporation but also surface water redistribution, providing important resources for vascular vegetation. Spatially-explicit ecohydrological models are useful tools to explore such ecohydrological mechanisms, but biocrusts have rarely been included in them. We contribute to closing this gap and assess how biocrusts shape spatio-temporal water fluxes and availability in a dryland landscape and how landscape hydrology is affected by climate-change induced shifts in the biocrust community. We extended the spatially-explicit, process-based ecohydrological dryland model EcoHyD by a biocrust layer which modifies water in- and outputs from the soil and affects surface runoff. The model was parameterized for a dryland hillslope in South-East Spain using field and literature data. We assessed the effect of biocrusts on landscape-scale soil moisture distribution, plant-available water and the hydrological processes behind it. To quantify the biocrust effects, we ran the model with and without biocrusts for a wet and dry year. Finally, we compared the effect of incipient and well-developed cyanobacteria- and lichen biocrusts on surface hydrology to evaluate possible paths forward if biocrust communities change due to climate change. Our model reproduced the runoff source-sink patterns typical of the landscape. The spatial differentiation of soil moisture in deeper layers matched the observed distribution of vascular vegetation. Biocrusts in the model led to higher water availability overall and in vegetated areas of the landscape and that this positive effect in part also held for a dry year. Compared to bare soil and incipient biocrusts, well-developed biocrusts protected the soil from evaporation thus preserving soil moisture despite lower infiltration while at the same time redistributing water toward downhill vegetation. Biocrust cover is vital for water redistribution and plant-available water but potential changes of biocrust composition and cover can reduce their ability of being a water source and sustaining dryland vegetation. The process-based model used in this study is a promising tool to further quantify and assess long-term scenarios of climate change and how it affects ecohydrological feedbacks that shape and stabilize dryland landscapes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:59:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1081f467455e441a8341c784bbdda4cf |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:59:20Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-1081f467455e441a8341c784bbdda4cf2023-06-27T15:26:05ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2023-06-011410.3389/fmicb.2023.11792911179291Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological modelSelina Baldauf0Yolanda Cantón1Yolanda Cantón2Britta Tietjen3Britta Tietjen4Institute of Biology, Theoretical Ecology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Agronomy, University of Almería, Almería, SpainResearch Centre for Scientific Collections from the University of Almería (CECOUAL), Almería, SpainInstitute of Biology, Theoretical Ecology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, GermanyBerlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), Berlin, GermanyBiocrusts are ecosystem engineers in drylands and structure the landscape through their ecohydrological effects. They regulate soil infiltration and evaporation but also surface water redistribution, providing important resources for vascular vegetation. Spatially-explicit ecohydrological models are useful tools to explore such ecohydrological mechanisms, but biocrusts have rarely been included in them. We contribute to closing this gap and assess how biocrusts shape spatio-temporal water fluxes and availability in a dryland landscape and how landscape hydrology is affected by climate-change induced shifts in the biocrust community. We extended the spatially-explicit, process-based ecohydrological dryland model EcoHyD by a biocrust layer which modifies water in- and outputs from the soil and affects surface runoff. The model was parameterized for a dryland hillslope in South-East Spain using field and literature data. We assessed the effect of biocrusts on landscape-scale soil moisture distribution, plant-available water and the hydrological processes behind it. To quantify the biocrust effects, we ran the model with and without biocrusts for a wet and dry year. Finally, we compared the effect of incipient and well-developed cyanobacteria- and lichen biocrusts on surface hydrology to evaluate possible paths forward if biocrust communities change due to climate change. Our model reproduced the runoff source-sink patterns typical of the landscape. The spatial differentiation of soil moisture in deeper layers matched the observed distribution of vascular vegetation. Biocrusts in the model led to higher water availability overall and in vegetated areas of the landscape and that this positive effect in part also held for a dry year. Compared to bare soil and incipient biocrusts, well-developed biocrusts protected the soil from evaporation thus preserving soil moisture despite lower infiltration while at the same time redistributing water toward downhill vegetation. Biocrust cover is vital for water redistribution and plant-available water but potential changes of biocrust composition and cover can reduce their ability of being a water source and sustaining dryland vegetation. The process-based model used in this study is a promising tool to further quantify and assess long-term scenarios of climate change and how it affects ecohydrological feedbacks that shape and stabilize dryland landscapes.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1179291/fullbiocrustbiological soil crustdrylandecohydrologyprocess-based modelsoil moisture |
| spellingShingle | Selina Baldauf Yolanda Cantón Yolanda Cantón Britta Tietjen Britta Tietjen Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological model Frontiers in Microbiology biocrust biological soil crust dryland ecohydrology process-based model soil moisture |
| title | Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological model |
| title_full | Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological model |
| title_fullStr | Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological model |
| title_full_unstemmed | Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological model |
| title_short | Biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation: insights from a spatially-explicit ecohydrological model |
| title_sort | biocrusts intensify water redistribution and improve water availability to dryland vegetation insights from a spatially explicit ecohydrological model |
| topic | biocrust biological soil crust dryland ecohydrology process-based model soil moisture |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1179291/full |
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