1. The Ecological Role of Biological Soil Crusts in the Rome Sand Plains Carlos Rymer Advisor: Rebecca Schneider Cornell Biological Field Station Cornell University

3. BSC’s are Everywhere Colorado Plateau Appalachian Mountains Globally, they’re found in every continent in alpine regions, deserts, and disturbed lands.

5. The Challenge of Desertification Once vegetated, this landscape was victim to desertification. Source: UN’s FAO “ Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is losing 351,000 hectares of rangeland and cropland to desertification each year.” “… over the last half-century, some 24,000 villages in northern and western China have been entirely or partly abandoned as a result of being overrun by drifting sand. ” “ In Brazil, where some 58 million hectares of land are affected, economic losses from desertification are estimated at $300 million per year, much of it concentrated in the country’s northeast…” -- Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute

6. Rome Sand Plains The Rome Sand Plains are remnants of the eastern shallow areas of glacial Lake Iroquois, which contained large volumes of sand. This pine barrens is one of only 20 inland pine barrens worldwide.

8. Macroscopic Components of the Biological Soil Crust 3cm Ladder Lichen Reindeer Moss Burned Ground Moss Cyanobacteria British Soldier Common Species Common Name Scientific Name Common Species Burned Ground Moss Ceratodon purpureus Reindeer Moss (lichen) Cladonia rangiferina Ladder Lichen Cladonia verticillata British Soldiers Cladonia cristatella Uncommon Species Reindeer Lichen Cladonia arbuscula Powdered Trumpet Cladonia fimbriata Yellow Moss Homalothecium fulgescens Polytrichum strictum Haircup Moss

9. Moisture Absorption Green Dark

11. Clearly, sand covered with bushy lichens gains much more water than moss or no covers. Troughs represent daytime hours, when lichens lose water to evaporation and the soil.

12. Again , lichens absorb more water than mosses and sand. All three cover types stabilize after absorbing some water. Proper light and natural cycles would allow absorbance to continue. High Humidity, Lower Temperature

13. The biological soil crust from this temperate region cannot absorb water under hyper-arid conditions. However, since these organisms are genetically adapted to a temperate region, we cannot tell whether biological soil crusts in semi-arid areas would also fail to absorb water.

14. The soil with lichen cover retains the most moisture. These results indicate that for every 0.0024m ² of crust cover, about 1 to 2 grams of water will be absorbed every day, a portion of which is made available to vascular plants. Rain Period

16. Most of the absorbed water ends up in the sand, while a large portion evaporates from the organisms.

17. These results show that the contribution to soil moisture increases as biological soil crust diversity increases.

19. Sand covered with biological soil crust is much more stable than sand with no cover. Sand from the trail is somewhat stable because it compacts as hikers step on it.

21. Source: UN Environment Programme Implications for Regions in High Risk of Desertification 1200-3000 Tectona grandis (Asia) 1000-2000 Calophyllum calaba (Caribbean) 1500-2500 Catalpa longissima (Caribbean) 600-800 African Blackwood (Southwest Africa) 1500 Ceiba pentandra (C. and South America) 800-1700 Swietenia mahogani (South America) 750 Acacia farnesiana (Europe) Low to Moderate Conifers Requirement (mm per year) Plant Water Requirements of Key Plant Conservation Species

25. Remember… For more information about biological soil crusts, visit: www.soilcrust.org Visit www.stopglobalwarming.org to stop global warming and reverse desertification.