Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China.
Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jul 20;831:154756. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154756. Epub 2022 Mar 23.
Seasonal growth and changes in biomass within communities are the core of ecosystem dynamics. Biocrusts play a prominent role as pioneers in dryland soils. However, the seasonal dynamics of biocrusts remain poorly resolved. In this study, we collected biocrusts across a successional gradient (cyanobacteria, cyanolichen, chlorolichen, and moss-dominated) from southeastern Tengger Desert (China) during the summer and autumn seasons, and explored seasonal changes in metabolism and biomass using multi-omics approaches. We found that Cyanobacteria and Ascomycota were the dominant active taxa and both exhibited higher abundances in autumn. We also found that the dominant primary producers in biocrusts strongly affected community-wide characteristics of metabolism. Along with seasonal differences in light energy utilization, utilization of inorganic energy sources exhibited higher expression in the summer while for organic sources, in the autumn. We found that overall metabolism was significantly regulated by the ratio of intracellular to extracellular polymer degradation, and affected by NO, PO and EC (in the summer)/NO (in the autumn). In summary, biocrust growth varied with seasonal variation in light energy utilization and complementary chemical energy sources, with the most suitable season varying with biocrust successional type.
生物结皮作为干旱土壤中的先驱者，其群落内的季节性生长和生物量变化是生态系统动态的核心。然而，生物结皮的季节性动态仍未得到很好的解决。本研究在夏季和秋季采集了来自中国腾格里沙漠东南部（中国）的演替梯度（蓝藻、蓝藻地衣、绿藻地衣和苔藓主导）的生物结皮，并利用多组学方法探索了代谢和生物量的季节性变化。我们发现蓝藻和子囊菌是主要的活性类群，并且在秋季的丰度更高。我们还发现，生物结皮中占主导地位的初级生产者强烈影响了整个群落的代谢特征。随着光能利用的季节性差异，无机能源的利用在夏季表现出更高的表达，而有机能源的利用则在秋季。我们发现，总的代谢受到细胞内到细胞外聚合物降解比率的显著调节，并受到氮、磷和电导率（在夏季）/氮（在秋季）的影响。总之，生物结皮的生长随光能利用和补充化学能源的季节性变化而变化，最适宜的季节因生物结皮演替类型而异。
