TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of cyanobacterial soil crusts on surface roughness and splash erosion
AU - Bullard, Joanna
AU - Ockelford, Anne
AU - Strong, Craig
AU - Aubault, Helene
N1 - An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright (2018) American Geophysical Union. Bullard, J. E., Ockelford, A., Strong, C., & Aubault, H. (2018). Effects of cyanobacterial soil crusts on surface roughness and splash erosion. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 123. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JG004726. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.
PY - 2018/12/6
Y1 - 2018/12/6
N2 - Soil surface roughness (SSR) modifies interactions and feedback processes between terrestrial
20 and atmospheric systems driven by both the abiotic and biotic components of soils. This paper
21 compares SSR response to a low intensity multi-day rainfall event for soils with and without
22 early successional stage cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crusts (CBCs). A rainfall
23 simulator was used to apply 2 mm, 5 mm and 2 mm of rain separated by a 24-hour period over 3
days at an intensity of 60 mm hr-124 . Changes in SSR were quantified using geostatistically25
derived indicators calculated from semivariogram analysis of high resolution laser scans. The
26 CBCs were stronger and splash erosion substantially less than from the physical soil crusts.
27 Prior to rainfall treatment soils with CBCs had greater SSR than those without. The rainfall
28 treatments caused the physical crusted soils to increase SSR and spatial patterning due to the
29 translocation of particles, soil loss and the development of raindrop impact craters. Rainfall
30 caused swelling of cyanobacterial filaments but only a slight increase in SSR, and raindrop
31 impact cratering and splash loss were low on the soils with CBCs.There is no relationship
32 between random roughness and splash erosion, but an increase in splash loss was associated with
33 an increase in topographic roughness and small-scale spatial patterning. A comparison of this
34 study with other research indicates that for rainfall events up to 100 mm the effectiveness of
35 CBCs in reducing soil loss is >80% regardless of the rainfall amount and intensity which
36 highlights their importance for landscape stabilization.
AB - Soil surface roughness (SSR) modifies interactions and feedback processes between terrestrial
20 and atmospheric systems driven by both the abiotic and biotic components of soils. This paper
21 compares SSR response to a low intensity multi-day rainfall event for soils with and without
22 early successional stage cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crusts (CBCs). A rainfall
23 simulator was used to apply 2 mm, 5 mm and 2 mm of rain separated by a 24-hour period over 3
days at an intensity of 60 mm hr-124 . Changes in SSR were quantified using geostatistically25
derived indicators calculated from semivariogram analysis of high resolution laser scans. The
26 CBCs were stronger and splash erosion substantially less than from the physical soil crusts.
27 Prior to rainfall treatment soils with CBCs had greater SSR than those without. The rainfall
28 treatments caused the physical crusted soils to increase SSR and spatial patterning due to the
29 translocation of particles, soil loss and the development of raindrop impact craters. Rainfall
30 caused swelling of cyanobacterial filaments but only a slight increase in SSR, and raindrop
31 impact cratering and splash loss were low on the soils with CBCs.There is no relationship
32 between random roughness and splash erosion, but an increase in splash loss was associated with
33 an increase in topographic roughness and small-scale spatial patterning. A comparison of this
34 study with other research indicates that for rainfall events up to 100 mm the effectiveness of
35 CBCs in reducing soil loss is >80% regardless of the rainfall amount and intensity which
36 highlights their importance for landscape stabilization.
U2 - 10.1029/2018JG004726
DO - 10.1029/2018JG004726
M3 - Article
SN - 2169-8961
VL - 123
SP - 3697
EP - 3712
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences
IS - 12
ER -