Relationships between Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and carbon fluxes of biologic soil crusts assessed by ground measurements

Abstract The aim of this research was to study the relationships between the biological soil crusts (BSC), spectral reflectance and photosynthetic activity. Twenty field campaigns, each lasting several days, were conducted during the 2002–2003 rainy season at sand dune and loess environments in the north-western Negev desert of Israel. Simultaneous measurements of CO 2 net exchange and spectral reflectance were carried out for several types of BSC. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was derived from the BSC reflectance and correlated with their CO 2 exchange data. The relationship between NDVI and CO 2 exchange is discussed in detail with respect to environmental factors, such as soil water content, air temperature, and light intensity. Fairly good correlations were found in the rainy season. The NDVI was useful in indicating the potential magnitude and capacity of the BSC assimilation activity. Furthermore, the index corresponded well with different rates of photosynthetic activity of the different types of microphytes. The results demonstrate that spectral reflectances of the BSC can be related to photosynthetic activities and posseses the potential to assess the amount of carbon sequestration by these microphytes on an areal scale using satellite images.

[1]  J. Johansen.  CRYPTOGAMIC CRUSTS OF SEMIARID AND ARID LANDS OF NORTH AMERICA , 1993 .

[2]  B. Büdel,et al.  Net Photosynthesis Activation of a Desiccated Cyano-bacterium Without Liquid Water in High air Humidity Alone. Experiments with Microcoleus sociatus Isolated from a Desert Soil Crust , 1994 .

[3]  A. Yair.  Environmental effects of loess penetration into the northern Negev Desert , 1987, Journal of Arid Environments.

[4]  J. Belnap,et al.  Photosynthesis of the cyanobacterial soil‐crust lichen Collema tenax from arid lands in southern Utah, USA: role of water content on light and temperature responses of CO2 exchange , 1998 .

[5]  N. West,et al.  Structure and Function of Microphytic Soil Crusts in Wildland Ecosystems of Arid to Semi-arid Regions , 1990 .

[6]  Y. Yamaguchi,et al.  Comparison of global net primary production trends obtained from satellite‐based normalized difference vegetation index and carbon cycle model , 2001 .

[7]  Professor Dr. Avinoam Danin.  Plants of Desert Dunes , 1996, Adaptations of Desert Organisms.

[8]  J. Belnap,et al.  Vulnerability of desert biological soil crusts to wind erosion: the influences of crust development, soil texture, and disturbance , 1998 .

[9]  O. Lange.  Photosynthesis of Soil-Crust Biota as Dependent on Environmental Factors , 2001 .

[10]  D. S. Schimel,et al.  The Carbon Cycle: Contents , 2000 .

[11]  R. Colwell,et al.  Ecological role of microphytic soil crusts in arid ecosystems. , 1995 .

[12]  E. Zaady,et al.  The content and contributions of deposited aeolian organic matter in a dry land ecosystem of the Negev Desert, Israel , 2001 .

[13]  Meyer,et al.  Eight days in the life of a desert lichen: water relations and photosynthesis of Teloschistes capensis in the coastal fog zone of the Namib Desert , 1990 .

[14]  A. Karnieli,et al.  Spectral reflectance of biogenic crust developed on desert dune sand along the Israel-Egypt border , 1995 .

[15]  D. Hillel.  Environmental soil physics , 1998 .

[16]  C. J. Tucker,et al.  Relationship between atmospheric CO2 variations and a satellite-derived vegetation index , 1986, Nature.

[17]  A. Karnieli,et al.  The effect of microphytes on the spectral reflectance of vegetation in semiarid regions , 1996 .

[18]  B. Whitton.  Biological Soil Crust: Structure, Function, and Management , 2002 .

[19]  J. Belnap,et al.  Biological Soil Crusts: Structure, Function, and Management , 2003, Ecological Studies.

[20]  Jayne Belnap,et al.  DISTURBANCE OF BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS: IMPACTS ON POTENTIAL WIND ERODIBILITY OF SANDY DESERT SOILS IN SOUTHEASTERN UTAH , 1997 .

[21]  B. Büdel,et al.  In situ studies of water relations and CO2 exchange of the tropical macrolichen, Sticta tomentosa , 1998 .

[22]  S. Running.  Estimating Terrestrial Primary Productivity by Combining Remote Sensing and Ecosystem Simulation , 1990 .

[23]  A. L. O'neill.  Reflectance spectra of microphytic soil crusts in semi-arid Australia , 1994 .

[24]  Jeffrey R. Johansen,et al.  Microbiotic Crusts and Ecosystem Processes , 1999 .

[25]  P. Proksch,et al.  Do secondary substances in the thallus of a lichen promote CO2 diffusion and prevent depression of net photosynthesis at high water content? , 1997, Oecologia.

[26]  O. Lange,et al.  Photosynthesis and water relations of lichen soil crusts: field measurements in the coastal fog zone of the Namib Desert , 1994 .

[27]  Harold A. Mooney,et al.  Remote Sensing of Biosphere Functioning , 1990 .

[28]  T. Green,et al.  Differences in photosynthetic performance between cyanobacterial and green algal components of lichen photosymbiodemes measured in the field. , 1993, The New phytologist.

[29]  J. Belnap,et al.  Photosynthesis of green algal soil crust lichens from arid lands in southern Utah, USA: role of water content on light and temperature responses of CO2 exchange , 1997 .

[30]  T. Green,et al.  Temperate rainforest lichens in New Zealand: high thallus water content can severely limit photosynthetic CO2 exchange , 1993, Oecologia.

[31]  Eyal Ben-Dor,et al.  Spectral Characteristics of Cyanobacteria Soil Crust in Semiarid Environments , 1999 .

[32]  C. Tucker,et al.  Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991 , 1997, Nature.

[33]  A. Danin,et al.  Plant adaptations in desert dunes , 1991 .

[34]  Cheryl McKenna Neuman,et al.  Wind transport of sand surfaces crusted with photoautotrophic microorganisms , 1996 .

[35]  Otto L. Lange,et al.  Taxonomic composition and photosynthetic characteristics of the biological soil crusts covering sand dunes in the western Negev Desert , 1992 .

[36]  E. Zaady,et al.  Patterns of CO2 exchange in biological soil crusts of successional age , 2000 .

[37]  Raymond F. Kokaly,et al.  Remote Sensing of Biological Soil Crusts , 2001 .

[38]  S. Breckle,et al.  Microclimatic boundary conditions for activity of soil lichen crusts in sand dunes of the north-western Negev desert, Israel , 2001 .

[39]  R. J. Beymer,et al.  Potential contribution of carbon by microphytic crusts in pinyon‐juniper woodlands , 1991 .

[40]  J. Belnap,et al.  Influence of cryptobiotic soil crusts on elemental content of tissue of two desert seed plants , 1995 .

[41]  B. Büdel,et al.  Further Evidence that Activation of Net Photosynthesis by dry Cyanobacterial Lichens Requires Liquid Water , 1993, The Lichenologist.