Biological soil crusts are thin, inconspicuous communities along the soil atmosphere
ecotone that, until recently, were unrecognized by ecologists and even more so by …

Arid ecosystems cover∼ 40% of the Earth's terrestrial surface and store a high proportion of
the global nitrogen (N) pool. They are low-productivity, low-biomass, and polyextreme …

As a crucial living skin inhabiting the soil-atmosphere interface, biocrusts play a vital role in
various soil properties and processes, especially surface soil pore structure and soil pore …

As ecosystem engineers in drylands, biocrusts possibly generate great influences on
surface soil water holding capacity and availability, but these effects have not yet been …

Various ecological functions of biocrusts are mostly determined by their bacterial and fungal
abundance and community diversity, which has not yet been fully investigated. To provide …

Aims Biocrusts, the living skin of dryland ecosystems, contain diverse soil microorganisms
that are essential to biocrust formation and the maintenance of multiple ecological functions …

The scholarship on evaporation has yet to fully comprehend the effects of biocrusts on
evaporation. This lacuna profoundly impacts our understanding regarding the hydrological …

Increasing N inputs and changing rainfall regimes will lead to drastic changes in multiple
ecosystem functions such as nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition and gas …

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are widely distributed in arid and semi-arid environments
worldwide. The microbiome metabolic pathways of biocrusts contribute to important …

As a “living skin” of soil in drylands, biocrusts possibly change the retention and movement
of soil water, and thus critically influence hydrological and erosion processes as well as soil …