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Introduction
Burkhard Büdel worked at the Department of Biology, Technische Universität Kaiserslautern. He is retired since April 1st 2019.
Publications
Publications (312)
Biocrusts represent associations of lichens, green algae, cyanobacteria, fungi and other microorganisms, colonizing soils in varying proportions of principally arid biomes. The so-called grit crust represents a recently discovered type of biocrust situated in the Coastal Range of the Atacama Desert (Chile) made of microorganisms growing on and in g...
Lichens are remarkable and classic examples of symbiotic organisms that have fascinated scientists for centuries. Yet, it has only been for a couple of decades that significant advances have focused on the diversity of their green algal and/or cyanobacterial photobionts. Cyanolichens, which contain cyanobacteria as their photosynthetic partner, inc...
Dating back to the earliest period of geological time (Archean), cyanobacteria are the oldest known photoautotrophic organisms that release oxygen during their photosynthesis (= oxygenic photosynthesis).
This chapter treats the various forms of symbioses between several organism groups with cyanobacteria and algae. A separate sub-chapter highlights the lichen symbioses.
The red algae are a group of important photoautotrophic organisms that include unicellular microalgae as well as large macroalgae with a size of more than one meter.
As a reader of this book you will become familiar with current, up-to-date comprehensive knowledge about all classes of eukaryotic algae, the cyanobacteria, and symbiotic interactions of algae and cyanobacteria with other organisms. For example, the lichens are symbiotic consortia and a prominent example of a particularly successful ‘evolution by c...
Over the decades our understanding of lichens has shifted to the fact that they are multiorganis-mic, symbiotic microecosystems, with their complex interactions coming to the fore due to recent advances in microbiomics. Here, we present a mutualistic-parasitic continuum dynamics scenario between an orange lichen and a lichenicolous fungus from the...
Deserts represent an extreme challenge for photosynthetic life. Despite their aridity, they are often inhabited by diverse microscopic communities of cyanobacteria. These organisms are commonly found in lithic habitats, where they are partially sheltered from extremes of temperature and UV radiation. However, living under the rock surface imposes a...
Under continuous human disturbance, regeneration is the basis for biodiversity persistence and ecosystem service provision. In tropical dry forests, edaphic ecosystem engineering by biological soil crusts (biocrusts) could impact regeneration by influencing erosion control and soil water and nutrient fluxes, which impact landscape hydrology, geomor...
Aim
Lichens and mosses play important functional roles in all terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in tundra and drylands. As with all taxa, to maintain their current niche in a changing climate, lichens and mosses will have to migrate. However, there are no published estimates of future habitat suitability or necessary rates of migration for membe...
Plants and other organisms have evolved structures and mechanisms for colonizing land since the Early Ordovician. In this context, their surfaces, the crucial physical interface with the environment, are mainly considered barriers against water loss. It is suggested that extreme water repellency (superhydrophobicity) was an additional key innovatio...
Studies of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) have proliferated over the last few decades. The biocrust literature has broadened, with more studies assessing and describing the function of a variety of biocrust communities in a broad range of biomes and habitats and across a large spectrum of disciplines, and also by the incorporation of biocrusts...
Cyanobakterien, Grünalgen und Flechten sind uralte Pionierorganismen. Auch in Wüsten können sie Fuß fassen, selbst wenn vermeintlich kein Wasser zur Verfügung
steht, um Photosynthese zu betreiben. Wie perfekt sie an das Leben in der AtacamaWüste Chiles angepasst sind und welche Strategien sie entwickelt haben, um an das benötigte Wasser und ausreic...
The last decades of research led to a change in understanding of lichens that are
now seen as self-sustaining micro-ecosystems, harboring diverse microbial organisms
in tight but yet not fully understood relationships. Among the diverse interdependencies,
the relationship between the myco- and photobiont is the most crucial, determining the
shape,...
Unicellular cyanobacteria inhabit a wide range of ecosytems and can be found throughout
the phylum offering space for taxonomic confusion. One example is strain PCC 6712 that
was described as Chlorogloea sp. (Nostocales) and later assigned to the genus Chroococcidiopsis (Chroococcidiopsidales). We now show that this strain belongs to the order Pleu...
The taxonomy of coccoid cyanobacteria, such as Chroococcidiopsis, Pleurocapsa, Chroococcus, Gloeothece, Gloeocapsa, Gloeocapsopsis, and the related recent genera Sinocapsa and Aliterella, can easily be intermixed when solely compared on a morphological basis. There is still little support on the taxonomic position of some of the addressed genera, a...
Rock surfaces provide a challenging habitat for a broad diversity of micro- or small-sized organisms. They interact with each other forming complex communities as well with their substrate causing biodeterioration of rock. Extreme fluctuation in light, temperature and hydration are the main factors that determine the rock surface habitats. The habi...
Since 1965 a cyanobacterial strain termed ‘Fischerella ambigua 108b’ was the object of several studies investigating its potential as a resource for new bioactive compounds in several European institutes. Over decades these investigations uncovered several unique small molecules and their respective biosynthetic pathways, including the polychlorina...
The Soil Crust International (SCIN) project was a multidisciplinary attempt to obtain a complete understanding of biocrusts communities across Europe, including among the monitored locations the Tabernas badlands in Spain, the driest habitat in the whole continent. Here we provide an overview in a Mini-Review format of our research about the functi...
Bioweathering mediated by microorganisms plays a significant role in biogeochemical cycles on global scales over geological timescales. Single processes induced by specific taxa have been described but could rarely be demonstrated for complex communities that dominate whole landscapes. The recently discovered grit crust of the coastal Atacama Deser...
Biocrusts are associations of various prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms in the top millimeters of soil, which can be found in every climate zone on Earth. They stabilize soils and introduce carbon and nitrogen into this compartment. The worldwide occurrence of biocrusts was proven by numerous studies in Europe, Africa, Asia and North Americ...
Habitat fragmentation and forest management have been considered to drastically alter the nature of forest ecosystems globally. However, much uncertainty remains regarding the causative mechanisms mediating temperate forest responses, such as forest physical environment and the structure of woody plant assemblages, regardless of the role these fore...
The polyphasic approach has been widely applied in cyanobacterial taxonomy which frequently led to additions to the species inventory. Increasing our knowledge about species and the habitats they were isolated from enables new insights into the ecology of newly established genera and species allowing speculations about the ecological niche of taxa....
Zusammenfassung
de Trotz ihrer widrigen Umweltbedingungen und geografischen Isolation beherbergt die Antarktis eine reiche Vegetation aus Flechten, Moosen, Algen, Pilzen und Bakterien. In den milderen Gebieten der maritimen und kontinentalen Antarktis bilden diese Pionierarten weithin sichtbare biologische Bodenkrusten. In trockeneren Gebieten komm...
Gale Crater was an ancient Martian lake that has periodically filled with water and which may still provide a watery environment conducive to the proliferation and fossilization of a wide range of organisms, especially algae. To test this hypothesis and to survey the Martian landscape, over 3,000 photographs from NASA's rover Curiosity Gale Crater...
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) have been recognized as key ecological players in arid and semiarid regions at both local and global scales. They are important biodiversity components, provide critical ecosystem services, and strongly influence soil-plant relationships, and successional trajectories via facilitative, competitive, and edaphic eng...
The Atacama Desert is the driest non‐polar desert on Earth, presenting precarious conditions for biological activity. In the arid coastal belt, life is restricted to areas with fog events that cause almost daily wet–dry cycles. In such an area, we discovered a hitherto unknown and unique ground covering biocenosis dominated by lichens, fungi, and a...
In the Atacama Desert, cyanobacteria grow on various substrates such as soils (edaphic) and quartz or granitoid stones (lithic). Both, edaphic and lithic cyanobacterial communities have been described but no comparison between both communities of the same locality has yet been undertaken. In the present study we compared both cyanobacterial communi...
The Atacama Desert is one of the driest and probably oldest deserts on Earth where only a few extremophile organisms are able to survive. This study investigated two terricolous and two epiphytic lichens from the fog oasis “Las Lomitas” within the National Park Pan de Azúcar which represents a refugium for a few vascular desert plants and many lich...
Seven new species and two varieties of Klebsormidium were described using an integrative approach on the base of 28 strains from the poorly studied phylogenetic superclade G. These strains originated from the unusual and exotic habitats (semi-deserts, semi-arid shrublands, Mediterranean shrub and deciduous vegetation, temperate Araucaria forests, p...
Biodiversity of phototrophic microorganisms in South American biological soil crusts (BSCs) and their role in the biogeochemical phosphorus (P)-cycle are unknown. Richness of BSC green algae and cyanobacteria was investigated at four climatically different Chilean sites (arid, semi-arid, Mediterranean, humid). Carbon (C), nitrogen (N), sulfur (S),...
Cyanobacteria of biological soil crusts (BSCs) represent an important part of circumpolar
and Alpine ecosystems, serve as indicators for ecological condition and climate
change, and function as ecosystem engineers by soil stabilization or carbon and nitrogen
input. The characterization of cyanobacteria from both polar regions remains
extremely impo...
Background and aimsDue to the well-known importance of biocrusts for several ecosystem properties linked to soil functionality, we aim to go deeper into the physiological performance of biocrusts components. Possible functional convergences in the physiology of biocrust constituents would facilitate the understanding of both species and genus distr...
Soil inoculation with cyanobacteria to promote the formation of biocrusts is considered a potential eco-friendly method to counteract desertification spread in drylands. Research is needed to increase the number of proficient cyanobacterial strains, selected for their capability to survive in harsh conditions and to form stable biocrusts quickly. W...
The effects of climate and topography on soil physico-chemical and microbial parameters were studied along an extensive latitudinal climate gradient in the Coastal Cordillera of Chile (26° - 38°S). The study sites encompass arid (Pan de Azúcar), semiarid (Santa Gracia), mediterranean (La Campana) and humid (Nahuelbuta) climates and vegetation, rang...
Biological soil crusts (BSC) encompassing green algae, cyanobacteria, lichens, bryophytes, heterotrophic bacteria and microfungi are keystone species in arid environments because of their role in nitrogen-and carbon-fixation, weathering and soil stabilization, all depending on the photosynthesis of the BSC. Despite their importance, little is known...
Vegetation and its succession can change the parameters of soil water repellency (SWR) due to the change in amount and composition of soil organic matter. This hypothesis was tested in natural and agricultural environments in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. The parameters investigated were the extent (determined by the repellency indices RI, RIc and...
Biological soil crusts (BSCs) are key components of polar ecosystems. These complex communities are important for terrestrial polar habitats as they include major primary producers that fix nitrogen, prevent soil erosion and can be regarded as indicators for climate change. To study the genus richness of microalgae and Cyanobacteria in BSCs, two di...
The family Peltulaceae is currently composed of the three genera Peltula , Phyllopeltula and Neoheppia . The last two genera, both with two species, are distinguished from Peltula only by a small number of morphological characters. The morphology of the genus Peltula varies from peltate-umbilicate thalli to squamulose-semifruticose or squamulose-co...
The Boodjamulla National Park research station is situated in the north-western Queensland dry savannah, where the climate is dominated by summer monsoons and virtually dry winters. Under shrub canopies and in between the tussock grasses cyanobacterial crusts almost entirely cover the flood plain soil surfaces. Seasonality drives N fixation, and in...
Where climatic conditions are harsh or disturbances reduce common plant coverage, biological soil crusts (BSCs) are established. These BSCs are groups of photosynthetic organisms like algae, mosses and lichens, that live within and on top of soil surfaces and co-occur with bacteria and fungi. This article illustrates with comics and sketches major...
Ecophysiological characterizations of photoautotrophic communities are not only necessary to identify the response of carbon fixation related to different climatic factors, but also to evaluate risks connected to changing environments. In biological soil crusts (BSCs), the description of ecophysiological features is difficult, due to the high varia...
Photoautotrophic surface communities forming biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are crucial for soil stability as well as water, nutrient and trace gas cycling at regional and global scales. Quantitative information on their global coverage and the environmental factors driving their distribution patterns, however, are not readily available. We use...
Arctic, Antarctic and alpine biological soil crusts (BSCs) are formed by adhesion of soil particles to exopolysaccharides (EPSs) excreted by cyanobacterial and green algal communities, the pioneers and main primary producers in these habitats. These BSCs provide and influence many ecosystem services such as soil erodibility, soil formation and nitr...
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are a common element of the Queensland (Australia) dry savannah ecosystem and are composed of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes, fungi and heterotrophic bacteria. Here we report how the CO2 gas exchange of the cyanobacteria-dominated biocrust type from Boodjamulla National Park in the north Queensland Gulf...
Soil inoculation with cyanobacteria (cyanobacterization) is a biotechnological method widely studied to improve soil quality and productivity. During their growth on soil, cyanobacteria excrete exopolysaccharides (EPSs) which glue trichomes to soil particles, in a three-dimensional extracellular polymeric matrix. EPS productivity is an important sc...
The Atacama Desert is well known for the high occurrence of large-scale fog (spatial extents: hundreds of kilometers) emerging as low stratus (LST) decks over the Pacific Ocean. By contrast, the small-scale and heterogeneous occurrence of small-scale fog (hundreds of meters) particularly during summers is widely unconsidered. However, these events...
Biological soil crusts (BSC) perform several important environmental functions such as soil erosion prevention, soil nutrient enrichment through photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation, and are receiving growing interest due to their importance in some changing habitats with soils under degradation risk. Primary producers within BSC (cyanobacteria, li...
The Antarctic Peninsula, a tundra biome dominated by lichens and bryophytes, is an ecozone undergoing rapid temperature shifts. Such changes may demand a high physiological plasticity of the local lichen species in order for them to maintain their role as key drivers in this pristine habitat. This study examines the response of net photosynthesis a...
Biological soil crusts are ecologically important communities in areas where vascular plant coverage is low, and their presence is often vital in prevention of soil erosion. Despite recurrent threats to biological soil crusts across different environments, their recovery after disturbance has been little studied. We therefore established experiment...
Arctic, Antarctic and alpine biological soil crusts (BSCs) are formed by adhesion of soil particles to exopolysaccharides (EPS), excreted by cyanobacterial and green algal communities, the pioneers and main producers in these habitats. These BSCs provide and influence many ecosystem services such as soil erodibility, soil formation and Nitrogen- (N...
Eco-physiological characterization of photoautotrophic communities is not only necessary to identify the response of carbon fixation related to different climatic factors, but also to evaluate risks connected to changing environments. In biological soil crusts (BSCs), the description of eco-physiological features is difficult, due to the high varia...
Biological soil crusts are a common element of the Queensland (Australia) dry savannah ecosystem and are composed of cyanobacteria, algae, lichens, bryophytes, fungi and heterotrophic bacteria. Here we report on the annual net primary productivity of a cyanobacteria dominated biological soil crust form the Boodjamulla National Park in north western...
Boodjamulla National Park research station is situated in north-west Queensland in the dry savannah where the climate is dominated by summer monsoons and virtually dry winters. Cyanobacterial crusts almost entirely cover the flood plain soil surfaces in between the tussock grasses. Cyanobacteria fix dinitrogen that is liberated into the soil in bot...
Biological soil crusts are communities composed of cryptogamic organisms such as lichens, mosses, cyanobacteria and green algae that form a skin on soils in areas where vascular plants are excluded or limited by water availability or temperature. The lichen Psora decipiens (Hedw.) Hoffm. is a characteristic key organism in these communities in many...
Background
Many fungal species occur across a variety of habitats. Particularly lichens, fungi forming symbioses with photosynthetic partners, have evolved remarkable tolerances for environmental extremes. Despite their ecological importance and ubiquity, little is known about the genetic basis of adaption in lichen populations. Here we studied pat...