Biological Soil Crust

The purpose of this study was to unravel key mechanistic aspects of biogeochemical carbon (C) cycling in soils utilizing a tractable environmental system to determine for the first time the relationship between altered environmental factors and the microbial “systems” metabolic response. This comparatively simple soil system allows us to evaluate if the responses of natural communities can be recapitulated in minimal microbial consortia, thus helping to define the minimal level of microbial interactions that are required to explain carbon cycling behavior, and by extension the necessary, sufficient, redundant and expendable components in the biogeochemical machinery of Biological Soil Crusts.