title: [Impact of biological soil crusts on soil water repellence in the hilly Loess Plateau region, China].
abstract: By using water drop penetration time (WDPT) and molarity of ethanol droplet (MED) methods, the soil water repellence of undisturbed biological soil crusts (biocrusts) in five successional stages, from the hilly Loess Plateau region of China was tested. The five stages of biocrusts were light cyanobacterial crust, dark cyanobacterial crust, cyanobacterial with sparse moss crust, moss and tiny cyanobacteria patches crust and moss dominated crust. The results showed that 1) the soil water repellence was markedly increased both in the intensity and persistence since the formation of biocrusts. 2) The soil water repellence showed a decrease trend along with the successional stages of biocrusts. The soil water repellence of the biocrusts with the moss coverage above 20% was significantly lower than that of the cyanobacterial crusts. 3) The soil water repellence of the biocrusts was closely related to soil moisture and the dominant organism. The soil water repellence increased with the decrease of soil water content for the moss dominated biocrusts, while changed in a bimodal curve with the decrease of soil water content for the cyanobacterial biocrusts.
authors.forename: Pei-Pei
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yun-Ge
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chun-Zhu
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Yao
mesh_terms: D044002:Bryophyta; D002681:China; D000458:Cyanobacteria; D008027:Light; D012987:Soil; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D014867:Water