Effects of sand burial on fluxes of greenhouse gases from the soil covered by biocrust in an arid desert region.

Abstract

Based on the measurements of the fluxes of CO2, CH4 and N2O from the soil covered by two types of biocrusts dominated separately by moss and algae-lichen, followed by 0 (control), 1 (shallow) and 10 (deep) mm depths of sand burial treatments, we studied the effects of sand burial on greenhouse gases fluxes and their relationships with soil temperature and moisture at Shapotou, southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert. The results showed that sand burial had significantly positive effects on CO2 emission fluxes and CH4 uptake fluxes of the soil covered by the two types of biocrusts, but imposed differential effects on N2O fluxes depending on the type of biocrust and the depth of burial. Deep burial (10 mm) dramatically increased the N2O uptake fluxes of the soil co-vered by the two types of biocrusts, while shallow burial (1 mm) decreased the N2O uptake flux of the soil co-vered by moss crust only and had no significant effects on N2O uptake flux of the soil covered by algae-lichen crust. In addition, CO2 fluxes of the two biocrusts were closely related to the soil temperature and soil moisture, thereby increasing with the raised soil surface temperature and soil moisture caused by sand burial. However, the relationships of burial-induced changes of soil temperature and moisture with the changes in the other two greenhouse gases fluxes were not evident, indicating that the variations of soil temperature and moisture caused by sand burial were not the key factors affecting the fluxes of CH4 and N2O of the soil covered by the two types of biocrusts.