生物土壤结皮：荒漠昆虫食物链的重要构建者

Biological Soil Crusts: A Significant Food Source for Insects in the Arid Desert Ecosystems

干旱荒漠地区由于水分因子的限制,其植被分布以不连续的高等植物斑块与隐花植物及其结皮的斑块镶嵌为其主要特征,构成了独特的荒漠植被景观格局。作为荒漠生态系统的主要组成者,荒漠昆虫与生境的关系,特别是与高等植物之间的食物链关系已得到大量的文献报道。本文基于野外调查和实验室模拟观测,发现了尖尾东鳖甲(Anatolica mucronata)对藓类结皮有取食现象,哈蛃(Haslundichilis sp.)对地衣结皮有取食现象。证实了生物土壤结皮直接参与了荒漠昆虫食物链和食物网的构成,为深入了解生物土壤结皮在荒漠生态系统中的功能和地位提供了实验证据。

Desert landscape are patchy and covered by two types of plant communities because of soil water limitation and few rainfall： macrophytic patches,consisting of xerophytic shrubs and herbs and microphytic patches,consisting of soil covered with biological soil crusts（BSCs） and their constitutional organism.BSCs are complex associations of moesses,lichens,liverworts,cyanobacteria,algae,fungi and bacteria that are intimately bound onto surface soils.The significances of BSCs in soil process,soil bio-geochemical cycling,hydrological and ecological processes in the arid desert ecosystems have been numerously documented.In this study,as a source of food web for desert insects,the evidence of BSCs has been found by experimental observation.This finding supplemented our new knowledge on linkage between BSCs and insects in desert ecosystems.