生物结皮的发育演替与微生物生物量变化

生物结皮在荒漠地区的生态恢复中具有重要的生态学意义,且不同发育演替阶段的结皮具有不同的生态功能.通过野外调查、显微观察结合微生物定量分析对腾格里沙漠东南缘沙坡头地区生物结皮的发育演替进行了研究.结果表明该地区的生物结皮一般按照"藻结皮→地衣结皮→藓结皮"的模式发育演替.随着结皮的发育演替,光合生物生物量逐渐增加,微藻生物量却呈现先增加后减少的趋势.其中,具鞘微鞘藻(Microcoleus vaginatus)作为结皮藻类中的第一优势种,在藻结皮中生物量最大,达到0.33 mm3·g-1,而爪哇伪枝藻(Scytonema javanicum)和(一种)念珠藻(Nostoc sp.)在晚期的地衣结皮中生物量达到最大.另外,研究发现异养微生物生物量在藻结皮中开始增加,但在地衣结皮中呈下降的趋势,最后在藓结皮中异养微生物生物量再次增加并达到最大.其中细菌数量的增加与结皮有机碳、Na+含量的增加显著相关(P<0.05),真菌数量的增加与K+、Na+含量的增加显著相关(P<0.05).本研究观察了沙坡头地区生物结皮发育演替的模式,并从环境适应与功能需求的角度探讨了生物结皮发育演替过程中微生物生物量的变化特征,对于理解结皮的发育演替以及荒漠化地区生态恢复过程中结皮的维护管理具有重要的理论与实践意义.

Development and Succession of Biological Soil Crusts and the Changes of Microbial Biomasses

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) play important ecological roles in vegetation and ecological restoration in desert regions, and different crust developmental and successional stages have different ecological functions. In this experiment, the BSCs in Shapotou region (at southeast edge of Tengger Desert) were investigated to study crust development and succession through field investigation, microscopic observation combined with quantitative analysis of microbial biomasses. The results showed that BSCs in this region generally developed and succeeded from algal crusts, lichen crusts to moss crusts. With the development and succession of BSCs, crust photosynthetic biomass gradually increased, while microalgal biomass showed a first increasing and then decreasing trend. Among the crust algae (cyanobacteia), Microcoleus vaginatus, as the first dominant species, occupied the most algal biomass and reached a maximum of 0.33 mm³·g^-1 crusts in algal crusts; while Scytonema javanicum and Nostoc sp. have their maximal biomasses in the later lichen crusts. In addition, it was found that the heterotrophic microbial biomass began to increase in algal crusts, and then decreased in lichen crusts; followed by another increase and the increase achieved the maximum at last in moss crusts. Through the correlation analysis, it was found that bacterial biomass significantly positively correlated with crust organic carbon and Na⁺ content, while fungal biomass positively correlated with K⁺ and Na⁺ content (P<0.05). In conclusion, this study investigated the developmental and successional patterns of BSCs in Shapotou region, and discussed the effects of crust development and succession on several microbial biomasses from the point of view of environmental adaptation and functional requirement, which may be helpful for us to understand crust development and succession, and provide theoretical and practical significances for crust maintenance and management in ecological restoration of desertification regions.