Drylands encompass over 40% of terrestrial ecosystems and face significant anthropogenic
degradation causing a loss of ecosystem integrity, services, and deterioration of social …

Nonvascular photoautotrophs (NVP), including bryophytes, lichens, terrestrial algae, and
cyanobacteria, are increasingly recognized as being essential to ecosystem functioning in …

Land surface albedo measures the degree to which the sun's radiation is absorbed or
reflected, and thus can be highly influential in global climate trends, local weather …

Biological soil crusts (BSCs) could strengthen soil particles, increase soil nutrients, and
reduce soil erosion. However, available information on stabilizing mine tailing sand by …

The pedogenesis from the mineral substrate released upon glacier melting has been
explained with the succession of consortia of pioneer microorganisms, whose structure and …

Biological crust (BSC) is a common kind of ground cover that affects overland flow together
with vegetation. It is important to understand the hydrodynamic mechanism of slope covered …

The ranges of many species globally have already shifted to maintain climatic equilibrium in
the face of climate change. Biocrusts—soil surface dwelling communities of lichens …

Aim Microbial diversity is one of the most important factors for maintaining the performance
of multiple functions in soils (multifunctionality). However, existing studies typically consider …

Vascular and nonvascular plants are affected by environmental factors determining their
distribution and shaping their diversity and cover. Despite the cryptogam commonness in …

The potential of biodiversity loss to impair the delivery of ecosystem services has motived
ecologists to better understand the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem …