Biologically renewable soil nitrogen: simulation of BSC dynamics after applying cyanobacteria to agricultural soil
February 19, 2014 @ 12:20 pm
to 01:10 pm
Xin Peng, Penn State
104 Forest Resources Building
Cyanobacteria are the main communities that are capable of nitrogen fixation in biological soil crusts (BSCs). Therefore, they are pioneers of BSC succession and have a great potential to be applied as a biological amendment to increase soil fertility in agricultural systems. Based on the community matrix analysis for three main components of BSCs communities - cyanobacteria, green algae and moss, here a stochastic succession model is established to simulate the microbial dynamics of BSCs after the artificial application of cyanobacteria in both till and no-till maize cultivating system, using a 10-year daily soil condition data. The result shows that initial adding amount of cyanobacteria will influence the speed of BSCs succession process; while growth rate of cyanobacteria is the key factor for long-term BSCs biomass and stability. Based on the model simulation, BSC communities are self-renewable after application, and can contribute 17%-24% of the total maize nitrogen requirement for each growth season.
Contact
David Watts
daw300@psu.edu