Scholarlink

Background and aims <p>Global warming has increased the frequency and severity of extreme climate events, resulting in the mortality of desert moss crusts. However, the pathways by which moss crust mortality affects rainfall partitioning and soil moisture dynamics remain poorly understood.</p> Methods <p>We simulated moss crust mortality by applying heat shocks and established three treatments: bare sand, living moss crust, and dead moss crust. Using high-precision sensors, we continuously monitored soil moisture at depths of 0–3&#xa0;cm, 3–6&#xa0;cm, 6–9&#xa0;cm, 9–12&#xa0;cm, and 12–15&#xa0;cm over a four-year period, aiming to quantify soil water content in the vertical soil profile and its dynamic response to rainfall events following moss crust mortality.</p> Results <p>Compared with living moss crusts, moss crust mortality significantly reduced soil water content in the upper 0–15&#xa0;cm soil layer. Moreover, relative to bare sand, the dead crust treatment exhibited poorer hydrological performance, and this negative effect persisted for at least four years. Following rainfall events, moss crust mortality shifted soil moisture distribution toward shallower layers, shortened the response lag time, accelerated wetting front advancement, reduced water recharge to deeper soil layers, and increased the rate of water depletion. Rainfall amount and intensity were key factors regulating these soil moisture response characteristics. In particular, under the dead crust treatment, larger rainfall events resulted in greater losses of stored water.</p> Conclusions <p>The mortality of moss crusts exerted a long-term negative impact on the availability of surface soil moisture in desert ecosystems, posing a significant threat to the establishment of plant communities and overall ecosystem functioning. This underscores the importance of protecting desert biocrusts and restoring their soil water regulation functions to improve water availability and ecosystem stability in degraded desert ecosystems.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Moss crust mortality severely reduces water infiltration in temperate deserts: insights from rainfall events over four years

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月19日

查看全文
  • Qing Zhang,
  • Yongxin Zang,
  • Benfeng Yin,
  • Jin  Chen,
  • Qiushi Ning,
  • Yongxing Lu,
  • Shujun Zhang,
  • Yunjie Huang,
  • Ao Yang,
  • Ruilin Chen,
  • Xiaobing Zhou,
  • Yuanming Zhang

摘要

Background and aims

Global warming has increased the frequency and severity of extreme climate events, resulting in the mortality of desert moss crusts. However, the pathways by which moss crust mortality affects rainfall partitioning and soil moisture dynamics remain poorly understood.

Methods

We simulated moss crust mortality by applying heat shocks and established three treatments: bare sand, living moss crust, and dead moss crust. Using high-precision sensors, we continuously monitored soil moisture at depths of 0–3 cm, 3–6 cm, 6–9 cm, 9–12 cm, and 12–15 cm over a four-year period, aiming to quantify soil water content in the vertical soil profile and its dynamic response to rainfall events following moss crust mortality.

Results

Compared with living moss crusts, moss crust mortality significantly reduced soil water content in the upper 0–15 cm soil layer. Moreover, relative to bare sand, the dead crust treatment exhibited poorer hydrological performance, and this negative effect persisted for at least four years. Following rainfall events, moss crust mortality shifted soil moisture distribution toward shallower layers, shortened the response lag time, accelerated wetting front advancement, reduced water recharge to deeper soil layers, and increased the rate of water depletion. Rainfall amount and intensity were key factors regulating these soil moisture response characteristics. In particular, under the dead crust treatment, larger rainfall events resulted in greater losses of stored water.

Conclusions

The mortality of moss crusts exerted a long-term negative impact on the availability of surface soil moisture in desert ecosystems, posing a significant threat to the establishment of plant communities and overall ecosystem functioning. This underscores the importance of protecting desert biocrusts and restoring their soil water regulation functions to improve water availability and ecosystem stability in degraded desert ecosystems.