Miniscule plants growing on desert soils can help drylands retain water and reduce erosion, researchers have found.

Biocrusts are a rich assortment of mosses, lichens, cyanobacteria, and microscopic organisms such as bacteria and fungi that live on the surface of dryland soils. Drylands, collectively, are the world’s largest biome.

«Biocrusts are critically important because they fix large amounts of nitrogen and carbon, stabilise surface soils, and provide a home for soil organisms,» said lead author Professor David Eldridge from UNSW Science.

«But we still have a poor understanding of just how biocrusts influence hydrological cycles in global drylands.

«Accounting for biocrusts and their hydrological impacts can give us a more accurate picture of the impacts of climate change on dryland ecosystems and improve our capacity to manage those effects,» Prof. Eldridge said.

Exploring more than 100 scientific papers

For the study, the team assembled and then analysed the largest ever global database of evidence on the effects of biocrusts on water movement, storage and erosion, focussing on drylands.

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