Bettina Weber

Jayne Belnap

Burkhard Büdel

This volume summarizes our current understanding of biological soil crusts (biocrusts), which are omnipresent in dryland regions. Since they cover the soil surface, they influence, or even control, all surface exchange processes. Being one of the oldest terrestrial communities, biocrusts comprise a high diversity of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens and bryophytes together with uncounted bacteria, and fungi. The authors show that biocrusts are an integral part of dryland ecosystems, stabilizing soils, influencing plant germination and growth, and playing a key role in carbon, nitrogen and water cycling. Initial attempts have been made to use biocrusts as models in ecological theory. On the other hand, biocrusts are endangered by local disruptions and global change, highlighting the need for enhanced recovery methods. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the fascinating field of biocrust research, making it indispensable not only for scientists in this area, but also for land managers, policy makers, and anyone interested in the environment.

Biological Soil Crusts: An Organizing Principle in Drylands

Soil fungi, microbes, microfauna, nitrogen fixation, hydrology, erosion, global change.

Structure, Function, and Management ; with 30 Tables

Biological Soil Crusts

Robert H. Webb

John S. Weisheit

THIS AMBITIOUS BOOK will enthrall armchair naturalists and river runners alike, offering a stunning tour through the natural, environmental, and human history of Cataract Canyon, a seventeen-mile run of free-flowing river above Lake Powell in the canyonlands of southern Utah. Setting the stage with preliminary chapters on geology and hydrology, prehistory and geography, biology, and river-running history the authors take the reader on a downriver journey, narrating an exploration of the river that is breathtaking in scope. From the plants and animals that live along its banks to the humans who seek out its rapids, from the wind and water that continue to shape the landscape to the government agencies that seek to control it, all of these become stories woven into the larger fabric of a beautiful, fragile, complex ecosystem where change--whether good or bad--is inevitable.

Jayne Belnap

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