Faist Akasha M, Antoninka Anita J, Barger Nichole N, Bowker Matthew A, Chaudhary V Bala, Havrilla Caroline A, Huber-Sannwald Elisabeth, Reed Sasha C, Weber Bettina
Department of Animal and Range Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, United States.
School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, United States.
Front Microbiol. 2021 Jan 5;11:577922. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.577922. eCollection 2020.
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a complex community of algae, cyanobacteria, lichens, bryophytes, and assorted bacteria, fungi, archaea, and bacteriophages that colonize the soil surface. Biocrusts are particularly common in drylands and are found in arid and semiarid ecosystems worldwide. While diminutive in size, biocrusts often cover large terrestrial areas, provide numerous ecosystem benefits, enhance biodiversity, and are found in multiple configurations and assemblages across different climate and disturbance regimes. Biocrusts have been a focus of many ecologists, especially those working in semiarid and arid lands, as biocrusts are foundational community members, play fundamental roles in ecosystem processes, and offer rare opportunities to study biological interactions at small and large spatial scales. Due to these same characteristics, biocrusts have the potential to serve as an excellent teaching tool. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the utility of biocrust communities as a model system in science education. Functioning as portable, dynamic mini ecosystems, biocrusts can be used to teach about organisms, biodiversity, biotic interactions, abiotic controls, ecosystem processes, and even global change, and can be easy to use in nearly every classroom setup. For example, education principles, such as evolution and adaptation to stress, or structure and function (patterns and processes) can be applied by bringing biocrusts into the classroom as a teaching tool. In addition, discussing the utility of biocrusts in the classroom - including theory, hypothesis testing, experimentation, and hands-on learning - this document also provides tips and resources for developing education tools and activities geared toward impactful learning.
生物土壤结皮是由藻类、蓝细菌、地衣、苔藓植物以及各种细菌、真菌、古菌和噬菌体组成的复杂群落，它们定殖于土壤表面。生物土壤结皮在旱地尤为常见，在全球干旱和半干旱生态系统中都能找到。尽管生物土壤结皮个体微小，但它们常常覆盖大片陆地，提供众多生态系统效益，增强生物多样性，并且在不同气候和干扰条件下呈现出多种结构和组合形式。生物土壤结皮一直是许多生态学家关注的焦点，尤其是那些在半干旱和干旱地区工作的生态学家，因为生物土壤结皮是基础群落成员，在生态系统过程中发挥着重要作用，并且提供了在小尺度和大尺度空间研究生物相互作用的难得机会。由于这些相同的特性，生物土壤结皮有潜力成为一种出色的教学工具。本文的目的是展示生物土壤结皮群落作为科学教育中的模型系统的实用性。作为便携式、动态的微型生态系统，生物土壤结皮可用于教授生物体、生物多样性、生物相互作用、非生物控制、生态系统过程，甚至全球变化等内容，并且几乎可以在任何课堂设置中轻松使用。例如，通过将生物土壤结皮带入课堂作为教学工具，可以应用诸如进化和对压力的适应，或结构与功能（模式与过程）等教育原理。此外，本文在讨论生物土壤结皮在课堂中的实用性时，包括理论、假设检验、实验和实践学习等方面，还提供了开发旨在实现有效学习的教育工具和活动的提示与资源。
