Warming decreases desert ecosystem functioning by altering biocrusts in drylands

Warming and precipitation fluctuations are changing desert ecosystems in global drylands. However, the effects of climate change on keystone species such as cryptogamic biocrust in drylands remain relatively under-investigated, even though biocrusts play a vital role in desert ecosystems. We conducted a long-term experiment (14 years) to simulate the responses of two main types of biocrusts to warming coupled with reduction in precipitation that was achieved by open-top chambers (OTCs) to simulate the predicted warming and precipitation decreasing under climate change scenario. We also conduct a structural analysis to evaluate the resulting changes in desert ecosystem functioning (carbon and nitrogen cycling). Neither warming and corresponding rainfall reduction treatments had a negative effect on lichen species richness, but both treatments reduced lichen cover and biomass. The negative effects of warming on moss-dominated crusts were much greater than those on lichen-dominated crusts...., See published article in the Journal of Applied Ecology for method details., , This folder contains the datafiles for the article:

Title: Warming decreases desert ecosystem functioning by altering biocrusts in drylands

File list (files found within Data.zip)

1. Li\_et\_al\_2023\_data\_C\_N\_fixation
2. Li\_et\_al\_2023\_data\_Enzyme
3. Li\_et\_al\_2023\_data\_MWHC
4. Li\_et\_al\_2023\_data\_Quadrat

### File descriptions

Li\_et\_al\_2023\_data\_C\_N\_fixation:
Change in annual carbon fixation (A) and nitrogen fixation (B) (mean ± SE, n=3) for both lichen- and moss-dominated crusts under two warming treatments and the control during the experimental period. Annual carbon fixation was calculated by the sum of wet time-weighted carbon fixation ability of all rainfall events. Annual nitrogen fixation was calculated by the sum of wet time-weighted nitrogen fixation ability of all rainfall events.

Li\_et\_al\_2023\_data\_Enzyme:
Changes in urease, invertase, catalase and dehydrogenase activity of lichen- and moss-dominated crust soil (0-5cm depth) after 6-, 10-, 12...