A test of fog cultivation of biocrust lichens and mosses for restoration material

Abstract

Climate change and land use (e.g., grazing, solar farms, mining) contribute to the loss of biological soil crusts (biocrusts) and associated ecosystem degradation. Biocrusts are composed of mosses, lichens, liverworts and cyanobacteria, alone or in any combination at the soil surface. Cultivating biocrusts for reintroductions into degraded ecosystems could support restoration efforts, but effective methods are still emerging. We built a fog chamber to test cultivation of two mosses ( Homalothecium aureum and Syntrichia ruralis ) and two lichens ( Peltigera rufescens and Cladonia spp.) common in intermountain west biocrust communities. Each taxon was tested in intact and disaggregated forms. We hypothesized that disaggregated samples would grow better than the intact ones, and the mosses would grow faster than lichens. Results showed that disaggregated mosses and lichens produced a minimum of 50% more healthy tissue than intact mosses and lichens, but lichens failed to grow well in either condition. Fog cultivation may be a promising method for mosses, but not for lichens under these conditions.