Articles | Volume 8, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-717-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-8-717-2022
Original research article
 | 
07 Dec 2022
Original research article |  | 07 Dec 2022

Biocrust-linked changes in soil aggregate stability along a climatic gradient in the Chilean Coastal Range

Nicolás Riveras-Muñoz, Steffen Seitz, Kristina Witzgall, Victoria Rodríguez, Peter Kühn, Carsten W. Mueller, Rómulo Oses, Oscar Seguel, Dirk Wagner, and Thomas Scholten

Download

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on soil-2021-141', Anonymous Referee #1, 11 Mar 2022
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Nicolás Riveras Muñoz, 16 Mar 2022
  • AC2: 'Comment on soil-2021-141', Nicolás Riveras Muñoz, 05 Apr 2022
  • RC2: 'Comment on soil-2021-141', Anonymous Referee #2, 17 May 2022
    • AC3: 'Reply on RC2', Nicolás Riveras Muñoz, 17 Jun 2022

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision
ED: Reconsider after major revisions (17 Jun 2022) by Cornelia Rumpel
AR by Nicolás Riveras Muñoz on behalf of the Authors (11 Aug 2022)  Author's response    Author's tracked changes    Manuscript
ED: Revision (26 Sep 2022) by Cornelia Rumpel
AR by Nicolás Riveras Muñoz on behalf of the Authors (17 Oct 2022)  Author's response    Author's tracked changes    Manuscript
ED: Publish as is (26 Oct 2022) by Cornelia Rumpel
ED: Publish as is (28 Oct 2022) by Jeanette Whitaker(Executive Editor)
Download
Short summary
Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) stabilize the soil surface mainly in arid regions but are also present in Mediterranean and humid climates. We studied this stabilizing effect through wet and dry sieving along a large climatic gradient in Chile and found that the stabilization of soil aggregates persists in all climates, but their role is masked and reserved for a limited number of size fractions under humid conditions by higher vegetation and organic matter contents in the topsoil.