Chlorophytes of biological soil crusts in Gurbantunggut Desert, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China

Abstract

In this paper, chlorophytes collected from 253 biological soil crust samples in Gurbantunggut Desert in Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China were studied by field investigation and microscopical observation in lab. The flora composition, ecological distribution of chlorophytes in the desert and dynamic changes of species composition of chlorophytes in different developing stages of biological soil crusts are preliminarily analyzed. Results showed that there were 26 species belonging to 14 genera and 10 families, in which unicellular chlorophytes were dominant. There existed some differences in distribution of varied sand dune positions. The taxa of chlorophytes in leeward of sand dunes are most abundant, but the taxa in windward, interdune and the top of sand dunes reduced gradually. Chlorophytes were mainly distributed within the crust and the taxa of chlorophytes decrease obviously under the crust. In the developing stages of the biological soil crust, species diversity of chlorophytes changed a little, but species composition presented some differences. Chlorococcum humicola, Chlorella vulgaris, Chlamydomonas ovalis and Chlamydomonas sp. nearly existed in all developing stages of biological crusts. In several former stages of the biological soil crust there were spherical chlorophytes and filamentous ones. When moss crust formed, filamentous chlorophytes disappeared, such as Microspora and Ulothrix.

References

1. Belnap J Harper K T Warren S D 1994 Surface disturbance of cryptobiootic soilcrusts: Nitrogennase activity, chlorophyll content and chlorophylldegradationArid Soil Reserch and Rehabilitation818
2. Hu C X Liu Y D 2003 Vertical distributionof algae in semi-desert soil of Shapotou area,Ningxia Hui Auto nomousRegionActa Ecological Sinica23(1)3844(in Chinese)
3. Hu C X Liu Y D Huang Z B Song L R 2000a The fine structure and development of algae crusts in desert areaActa Hydrobiologica Sinica24(1)1118(in Chinese)
4. Hu C X Liu Y D Song L R 1999 Species composition and distribution ofalgae in Shapotou area, Ningxia Hui Autonomous RegionActa Hydrobiologica Sinica23(5)443448(in Chinese)
5. Hu C X Liu Y D Song L R Huang Z B 2000b Species composition and distribution of algae in semi-desert algalcrustsChinese Journal of Applied Ecology11(1)6165(in Chinese)
6. Hu C X Zhang B C Ma H Y Liu Y D Zhang D L 2003a Species composition andcommunity structure of terrestrial algae in the biological crustsof Lanzhou Northern HillJournal of NorthwestNormal University39(1)5963(in Chinese)
7. Hu C X Zhang D L Liu Y D 2003b The newly progress of algae study ofmicrobiotic crust in arid areaProgressin Natural Science13(8)791795(in Chinese)
8. Intergrated Study Team to Xinjiang Weger Autonomous Region,Academic Sinica. 1978 Vegetation in Xinjiangand Its UtilizationBeijingScience Press238242
9. Nash T H White S Marsh J E 1979 Lichen and moss distribution and biomassin hot desert ecosystemsBryologist80470479
10. Shields L M Durrel L W 1964 Algae in relationto soil fertilityThe Botanica Review30(1)92128. doi:10.1007/BF02858614
11. Soil MicrobiologySeminar. . 1983 Experimentation of soil microbiologyBeijingSciencePress172174
12. Wei J C 2005 The new approach to run arid desert-biological carpet projectof desertArid Zone Research22(3)287288(in Chinese)
13. Zhang B C Zhang Y M Zhao J C Zhang R C 2005 Study on cyanobacteria of biological soil crusts in GurbantonggutDesert, Zhungar Basin, SinkiangGeographyand Geo-Information Science21(5)107109
14. Zhang Y M 2005 The microstructure and formation of biological soil crustin their early developmental stageChineseScience Bulletin50(1)15. doi:10.1360/03WW0153
15. Zhang Y M Pan H X Pan B R 2004 Distribution characteristics of biologicalcrust on sand dune surface in Gurbantunggut DesertJournal of Soil and Water Conservation18(4)6164
16. Zhang Y M Wang H L Wang X Q 2006 The microstruture of microbiotic crustand its influence on wind erosion for a sandy soil surface in theGurbantunggut Desert of Northwestern ChinaGeoderma132441449. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2005.06.008