Abstract:

Artificial biological soil crusts are a new method of desertification land management that accelerates the formation of BSCs through artificial cultivation. At present， most studies on artificial BSCs are focused on the selection and cultivation of algal species， optimization of inoculation methods and field colonization， but lack of research on the restoration of desert ecosystems functions. In order to explore the influence of artificial BSCs on the restoration of desert ecosystem functions such as herb diversity， this study took artificial BSCs and sand in the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert as the research objects， investigated the properties of artificial BSCs and the composition， growth and diversity of herbs. The results showed that there were 9 species of herbaceous plants belonging to 4 families and 9 genera， among which Amaranthaceae contained most species， followed by Gramineae， and the dominant species was Echinops gmelini. The coverage was 8%， the biomass was 11.63 g·m^-2， the richness was 0.71， and the abundance was 1.00 of herbs in control group； but the early stage of artificial BSCs significantly increased the coverage （11%-19%）， biomass （80.00-179.70 g·m^-2）， richness （1.67-3.67） and abundance （4.33-16.78） of herbaceous plants. There was a quadratic function relationship between artificial BSCs coverage and herb coverage， while the attributes of artificial BSCs were significant positive correlation with herbaceous cover， biomass， richness， and abundance. Therefore， the formation and development of artificial BSCs are beneficial to the restoration of growth and diversity of herbaceous plants， and accelerates the recovery of desert ecosystem functions， this study provides a theoretical basis for the further promotion and large-scale application of artificial BSCs.

Key words: artificial biological soil crust, herbaceous plant, species diversity, desert ecosystem, ecological function restoration