Microenvironments and Microscale Productivity of Cyanobacterial Desert Crusts

We used microsensors to characterize physicochemical microenvironments and photosynthesis occurring immediately after water saturation in two desert soil crusts from southeastern Utah, which were formed by the cyanobacteria Microcoleus vaginatus Gomont, Nostoc spp., and Scytonema sp. The light fields within the crusts presented steep vertical gradients in magnitude and spectral composition. Near-surface light-trapping zones were formed due to the scattering nature of the sand particles, but strong light attenuation resulted in euphotic zones only ca. 1 mm deep, which were progressively enriched in longer wavelengths with depth. Rates of gross photosynthesis (3.4?9.4 mmol O2�m?2�h?1) and dark respiration (0.81?3.1...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Journal Citation; Tags: Journal of Phycology, Microcoleus vaginatus, Nostoc, Scytonema, cyanobacteria, All tags... deserts, extreme environments, microenvironments, photosynthesis, productivity, soil algae, Fewer tags