Small-Scale Environments and Distribution of Biological Soil Crusts

Abstract

On a large geographic scale, variability in climate and habitats results in differences in crust-community composition (see Part I). Within a single region or locality, additional heterogeneity may result from differences in physical parameters such as elevation, soil characteristics, or microclimate gradients (Kutiel et al. 1998). Even at a very small scale of 1 m or 1 cm, patchiness in the distribution of organisms can be considerable (Grondrin and Johansen 1993). This chapter is devoted to those variations in environmental variables occurring at spatial scales of millimeters to meters.