Microbial and geo-archaeological records reveal the growth rate, origin and composition of desert rock surface communities

Wieler, Nimrod; Erickson Gini, Tali; Gillor, Osnat; Angel, Roey

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3331-2021

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3331-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3331-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

04 Jun 2021

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 04 Jun 2021

Microbial and geo-archaeological records reveal the growth rate, origin and composition of desert rock surface communities

Nimrod Wieler, Tali Erickson Gini, Osnat Gillor, and Roey Angel

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-18-3331-2021-supplement

Data sets

Rock metagenome (ID 381355) Roey Angel https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/bioproject/PRJNA381355

Model code and software

Microbiome analysis code Roey Angel https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4747587

Download

Article (7130 KB)
Full-text XML

Short summary

Biological rock crusts (BRCs) are common microbial-based assemblages covering rocks in drylands. BRCs play a crucial role in arid environments because of the limited activity of plants and soil. Nevertheless, BRC development rates have never been dated. Here we integrated archaeological, microbiological and geological methods to provide a first estimation of the growth rate of BRCs under natural conditions. This can serve as an affordable dating tool in archaeological sites in arid regions.