Alive: BSC Notes
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Its Alive: Biological Soil Crusts in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts
- BSC = Biological soil crust
made of cyanobacteria = blue green algae, one of the oldest lifeforms on earth
also made of scaly lichens, furry mosses, micro fungi, bacteria, green algae
- BSC can regenerate in a few years, but moss/lichen can take decades or more
- living groundcover, foundation of desert
- CD BSCs are flatter than other BSCs (black knobby BSCs in Moab or lush BSCs in NW USA)
- often grow under a shrub for shelter
- primary function to hold soil together
- when wet BSCs move through soil leaving behind long sticky fibers creating a sponge-like structure where moss algae, fungi, lichen to live on
- mosses/lichen anchor the soil in place
- BSC don't even have to be alive to provide stability, up to 10 cm deep [difference in living/dead depth?]
- Look dead and dry until a sprinkle of water
- BSCs can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a useable form
- BSCs store water/nutrients/organic matter like a sponge
- Trampling by feet or machines are destructive to BSCs, increasing erosion
tracks from vehicles can form channels for water, very erosional
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