Hydrology in a patterned landscape is co-engineered by soil-disturbing animals and biological crusts |
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| Institution: | 1. State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, No.222, Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China;2. Yuzhong Mountain Ecosystem Field Observation and Research Station, Lanzhou University, No. 222, Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China;3. Shapotou Desert Research and Environment Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, CAS, No. 320, Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China;1. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;2. Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;3. State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;1. Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;2. Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia;1. State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China;2. College of Life Science and Technology, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453003, Henan, China;3. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China |
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| Abstract: | Water redistribution has a profound influence on dryland ecosystem function. This hydrological function is largely regulated by ecosystem engineers including biological soil crusts (biocrusts) which produce run-off, and burrowing animals, such as the greater bilby, whose pits capture water. We estimated the relative importance of these two ecosystem engineers in determining infiltration rates in a system where dune slopes shed water to adjacent interdune swales to maximize overall productivity. Also, we determined which biocrust property was most hydrologically important: total cover, composition, patch aggregation or spatial heterogeneity. While both biocrusts and burrowing animals equally affected the overall infiltration through macro- and micropores (under ponding), only biocrusts were important for the infiltration specifically via micropores (under tension). Of the studied biocrust properties, community composition was the strongest influence such that the greater the prevalence of early successional biocrust patches, the greater the infiltration rate. Greater total cover of biocrusts reduced infiltration, and the spatial properties were relatively unimportant. Although bilbies and biocrusts comparably influenced infiltration under ponding at the microscale, realistic cover of bilby pits at the landscape scale is unlikely to strongly impair the hydrological function of dunes. Reintroduction of the endangered bilby may enhance nutrient cycling and plant recruitment via its seed and resource capturing pits, without a concomitant disruption of hydrological function. In contrast, removal of biocrusts caused by, e.g., livestock trampling, is expected to strongly enhance infiltration in the run-off areas, strongly reducing ecosystem productivity at the landscape scale. |
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