Keiichi Kimura

and 1 more

Land degradation is a global problem and effective land restoration techniques are needed. Biocrust introduction has attracted much attention because biocrust-forming organisms have a high survival rate in harsh environments and perform various ecological functions. However, physical disturbances and low nutrients impede biocrust development. In degraded areas, soil tackifiers and amendments are often applied before biocrust inoculation, but optimal methods require further investigation. This study examined whether biomineralization by ureolytic bacteria, one soil stabilization method, could facilitate the growth of biocrust-forming cyanobacteria and biocrust development. We also investigated whether biomineralization and cyanobacterial inoculation could improve soil stabilization, hydrology, and photosynthesis activity compared to the only biocrust introduction. We incubated the biocrusts on biomineralized sand or bare sand. We measured several indicators of cyanobacterial growth, biocrust structure development, and ecological functions during the incubation. The results indicate that although the biomineralized soil did not facilitate cyanobacterial growth, infiltration, or photosynthesis activity, it improved the biocrust thickness and wind erosion tolerance. Our findings indicate biocrusts with biomineralization would form a more stable soil surface in degraded land. We also show the different influences of biomineralization among the target ecological functions, which will help to develop land restoration methods utilizing biocrusts and biomineralization.