Microbial Communities in Biocrusts Are Recruited From the Neighboring Sand at Coastal Dunes Along the Baltic Sea.

ABSTRACT: Biological soil crusts occur worldwide as pioneer communities stabilizing the soil surface. In coastal primary sand dunes, vascular plants cannot sustain due to scarce nutrients and the low-water-holding capacity of the sand sediment. Thus, besides planted dune grass, biocrusts are the only vegetation there. Although biocrusts can reach high coverage rates in coastal sand dunes, studies about their biodiversity are rare. Here, we present a comprehensive overview of the biodiversity of microorganisms in such biocrusts and the neighboring sand from sampling sites along the Baltic Sea coast. The biodiversity of Bacteria, Cyanobacteria, Fungi, and other microbial Eukaryota were assessed using high-throughput sequencing (HTS) with a mixture of universal and group-specific primers. The results s

SUBMITTER: Glaser K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9245595 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature