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Journal of Desert Research ›› 2022, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (6): 33-43.DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-694X.2021.00137

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A review on microbial community assembly in biological soil crusts

Jingting Bao1,2,3(), Jingyao Sun3, Jin Wang3()   

  1. 1.School of Biological and Environmental Engineering,Xi'an University,Xi'an 710065,China
    2.School of Life Science and Engineering,Lanzhou University of Technology,Lanzhou 730050,China
    3.Shapotou Desert Research and Experiment Station,Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Lanzhou 730000,China
  • Received:2021-09-04 Revised:2021-10-29 Online:2022-11-20 Published:2023-01-09
  • Contact: Jin Wang

Abstract:

Biological soil crusts (also known as biocrusts) are the link structures between surface biotic components and abiotic components in deserts. Biocrusts are not only the "hot spots" of biodiversity in deserts, but also the "engineers" for the restoration of degraded ecosystems. The colonization of biocrusts not only can stabilize the surface, affect soil hydrological process and play an important role in pedogenesis, but also can affect soil carbon and nitrogen cycles in deserts. As microorganisms (cyanobacteria, bacteria, fungi, archaea, etc.) play an important role in the formation and ecological function of biocrusts, this paper systematically summarized the composition and community assembly of microorganisms in biocrusts in cold deserts, cool deserts and hot deserts, and clarified the main microbial species at different succession stages of biocrusts in different bioclimatic regions at global scale. The existing problems were also discussed. Finally, the authors suggested to focus on microbial interactions and identify the key hub microbial species by co-occurrence ecological network analysis, which will help select potential efficient inoculums for cultivating artificial biocrusts and promoting the restoration of degraded ecosystems.

Key words: bioclimatic regions, biological soil crusts, microbial community assembly, global change

CLC Number: