Simulated climate change affects how biocrusts modulate water gains and desiccation dynamics after rainfall events.

ABSTRACT: Soil surface communities dominated by mosses, lichens and cyanobacteria (biocrusts) are common between vegetation patches in drylands worldwide, and are known to affect soil wetting and drying after rainfall events. While ongoing climate change is already warming and changing rainfall patterns of drylands in many regions, little is known on how these changes may affect the hydrological behaviour of biocrust-covered soils. We used eight years of continuous soil moisture and rainfall data from a climate change experiment in central Spain to explore how biocrusts modify soil water gains and losses after rainfall events under simulated changes in temperature (2.5°C warming) and rainfall (33% reduction). Both rainfall amount and biocrust cover increased soil water gains after rainfall events, w

SUBMITTER: Lafuente A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6166855 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature