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Soil surface growths dominated by cyanobacteria and the lichen Collema in southeastern Utah are shown to be associated with greater tissue content of several bio-essential elements in two co-occurring seed plants (Festuca octoflora, Poaceae, and Mentzelia multiflora, Loasaceae). The elements N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and Fe were present in significantly greater concentrations in Festuca growing on soils heavily encrusted with cyanobacteria and cyanolichens than in plants on the same soil where foot traffic had destroyed the cryptobiotic crusts. With Mentzelia, N, Mg, and Fe were present in significantly greater concentrations in plants from sites with encrusted soil surfaces than on blow-sand sites. The cryptobiota appeared...
Transitions between atmosphere and soil, and between soil and roots, are two examples of small-scale boundaries across which the nutrient, water, and gas dynamics of ecosystems are modulated. Most atmospheric inputs to ecosystems have to pass through the soil; thus, the atmosphere?soil boundary influences the type and amount of materials and energy entering the soil. Belowground plant inputs occur through the rhizosphere, the zone of soil immediately adjacent to the root. This soil boundary layer affects root inputs to soil and root extraction of water and nutrients from soil. We discuss how water, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen dynamics are affected by atmosphere?soil and soil?root boundaries and how light, soil...
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Invasion of the exotic annual grass Bromus tectorum into stands of the native perennial grass Hilaria jamesii significantly reduced the abundance of soil biota, especially microarthropods and nematodes. Effects of invasion on active and total bacterial and fungal biomass were variable, although populations generally increased after 50+ years of invasion. The invasion of Bromus also resulted in a decrease in richness and a species shift in plants, microarthropods, fungi, and nematodes. However, despite the depauperate soil fauna at the invaded sites, no effects were seen on cellulose decomposition rates, nitrogen mineralization rates, or vascular plant growth. When Hilaria was planted into soils from not-invaded,...
    map background search result map search result map Soil Biota Can Change after Exotic Plant Invasion: Does This Affect Ecosystem Processes? Soil Biota Can Change after Exotic Plant Invasion: Does This Affect Ecosystem Processes?