Abstract
Background and AimsBiological soil crust (biocrust) communities, though common and important in the intermountain west, have received little research attention. There are gaps in understanding what influences biocrust species’ abundance and distributions in this ecoregion. Climatic, edaphic, topographic, and biotic forces, in addition to anthropogenic disturbance can all influence the biocrust.MethodsWe determined the relative influence of several possible environmental filters in biocrust communities of western Montana (USA) grasslands at two spatial scales. The larger scale exploited strong topographically-dictated climatic variation across >60km2, while the smaller scale focused on differences among distinct microsites within ~700m2 plots.ResultsWe detected a total of 96 biocrust taxa, mostly lichens. Biocrust richness at each site ranged from 0 to 39 species, averaging 14 species. Insolation, aspect, and disturbance history were the strongest predictors of biocrust richness, abundance, and species turnover across the landscape; soil texture was influential for some biocrust community properties. Steep, north-facing slopes that receive longer periods of shade harbored higher diversity and cover of biocrust than south-facing sites. At a small scale, interspaces among native herbaceous communities supported the greatest diversity of biocrust species, but microsites under shrub canopies supported the greatest cover.ConclusionsWe found that, among the variables investigated, tillage, insolation, soil texture and the associated vegetation community were the most important drivers of biocrust abundance and species richness. This study can inform the practice of restoration and conservation, and also guide future work to improve predictions of biocrust properties.
Highlights
Climatic, edaphic, topographic, and biotic forces, in addition to anthropogenic disturbance can all influence species’ natural abundance and distributions
We detected a total of 96 biocrust species or species groups at the 98 sites sampled, 72 lichens and 24 bryophytes (Table 2)
Several studies have documented the biocrusts of the intermountain west
Summary
Edaphic, topographic, and biotic forces, in addition to anthropogenic disturbance can all influence species’ natural abundance and distributions. Since the development of that concept, the environment has often been metaphorically envisioned as one Bfilter^ along with dispersal and biotic filters which permits some members of the regional species pool to establish and persist in a community while excluding others (Zobel 1997; Kraft et al 2015). These concepts have permeated plant and animal ecology, but are less commonly investigated in biological soil crusts (biocrusts). Edaphic, topographic, and biotic forces, in addition to anthropogenic disturbance can all influence the biocrust
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