Bryophyte-dominated biological soil crusts mitigate soil erosion in an early successional Chinese subtropical forest

Seitz, Steffen; Nebel, Martin; Goebes, Philipp; Käppeler, Kathrin; Schmidt, Karsten; Shi, Xuezheng; Song, Zhengshan; Webber, Carla L.; Weber, Bettina; Scholten, Thomas

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5775-2017

Articles | Volume 14, issue 24

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5775-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

Biological soil crusts and their role in biogeochemical processes...

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-14-5775-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 24

Research article

|

22 Dec 2017

Research article |

| 22 Dec 2017

Bryophyte-dominated biological soil crusts mitigate soil erosion in an early successional Chinese subtropical forest

Steffen Seitz, Martin Nebel, Philipp Goebes, Kathrin Käppeler, Karsten Schmidt, Xuezheng Shi, Zhengshan Song, Carla L. Webber, Bettina Weber, and Thomas Scholten

Data sets

Main Experiment: Runoff Plots in the Main Experiment – Data, BEF China data portal S. Seitz http://china.befdata.biow.uni-leipzig.de/datasets/376

Main Experiment: Cover of Biological Soil Crusts in Runoff Plots (2011–2015), BEF China data portal S. Seitz http://china.befdata.biow.uni-leipzig.de/datasets/598

Short summary

This study investigated biological soil crusts (biocrusts, e.g. cyanobacteria and mosses) within an early-stage mesic subtropical forest in China, where they were particularly abundant. Biocrust covers significantly decreased soil erosion and were more effective in erosion reduction than stone cover. Hence, they play an important role in mitigating soil erosion under forest and are of particular interest for erosion control in forest plantations.