Dj. Eldridge et R. Rosentreter, Morphological groups: a framework for monitoring microphytic crusts in arid landscapes, J ARID ENV, 41(1), 1999, pp. 11-25
Microphytic crusts are important components of arid and semi-arid systems.
They play important roles in ecosystem processes and are useful indicators
of landscape health. Despite their importance, microphytic crusts and their
component organisms are little understood, largely due to their small size
and the difficulty in identifying them to species level. The influence of
microphytic crust organisms on soils and landscapes, and their response to
and recovery from perturbation is related largely by their morphology or ex
ternal appearance. In this paper we examine the relationships between morph
ological groups of lichens and bryophytes associated with soil crusts, and
their roles in ecosystem processes in rangelands. Using published and unpub
lished data we propose that the morphological group approach is a more effi
cient method of monitoring soil crust organisms than one based on the tradi
tional species approach. (C) 1999 Academic Press.