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Great Basin Naturalist Volume 58 Number 4 Article 13 10-12-1998 Full Issue, Vol. 58 No. 4 Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn Recommended Citation (1998) "Full Issue, Vol. 58 No. 4," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 58 : No. 4 , Article 13. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol58/iss4/13 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Basin Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. T H E GREATR EAT BASINBAS I1 naturalistNAtuRatiALIaty ST rebIALmeb m A VOLUME 58 NQ 4 OCTOBER 1998 ML BEAN LIFE SCIENCE MUSEUM BRIGHAM YOUNG university GREAT BASIN naturalist httpwwwlibbyuedunms FAX 8013783733801 378 3733 editor assistant editor RICHARD W BAUMANN NATHAN M SMITH 290 MLBM 190 MLBM PO box 20200 PO box 26879 brigham young university brigham young university provo UT 84602020084602 0200 provo UT 84602687984602 6879 8013785492801 378 5492 8013786688801 378 6688 emailE mail baumannbyueduricharclbaumannbyueduriehardrichard emailE mail nathan smithbyuedu associate editors JAMES C CALLISON JR PAUL C MARSH department of environmental technology center for environmental studies arizona utah valley state college state university tempe AZ 85287 orem UT 84058 JERRY H SCRIVNER BRUCE D ESHELMAN department of biology department of biological sciences university of ricks college wisconsin whitewater whitewater WI 53190 rexburgredburgRexburg ID 83460110083460 1100 JEFFREY R JOHANSEN STANLEY D SMITH department of biology john carroll university department of biology university heights OH 44118 university of nevada las vegas las vegas NV 89154400489154 4004 BORIS C kondratieff department of entomology colorado state ROBERT C WHITMORE university fort collins CO 80523 division of forestry box 6125 west virginia university Morganmorgantowntown WV 26506612526506 6125 editorial board richard A heckmann chair zoology berranjerran T flinders botany and range science duke S rogers zoology bruce A roundy botany and range science richard R tolman zoology lanylarry L st clair botany and range science H duane smith monte L bean life science museum all are at brigham young university ex officio editorial board members include steven L taylor college of biology and agriculture and richard W baumann editor great basin naturalist the great basin naturalist founded in 1939 is published quarterly by brigham young university unpublished manuscripts that further our biological understanding of the great basin and surrounding areas in western north america are accepted for publication subscriptions annual subscriptions to the great basin naturalist for 1998 are 25 for individual sub- scriscribersbers 30 outside the united states and 50 for institutions the price of single issues is 12 all back issues are in print and available for sale all matters pepertaining to subscriptions back issues or other busi- ness should be directed to the editor great basin naturalist 290 MLBM PO box 20200 brigham young university provo UT 84602020084602 0200 scholarly exchanges libraries or other organizations interested in obtaining the great basin naturalist through a continuing exchange of scholarly publications should contact the exchange librarian 6385 HBLL poboxPO box 26889 brigham young university provo UT 84602688984602 6889 editorial production staff joanne Y abel technical editor emailE mail jyaemailbyuedu copyright 0 1998 by brigham young university ISSN 001736140017 3614 official publication date 12 october 1998 109810 98 750 27394 the great basin naturalist PUBLISHED AT PROVO UTAH BY ML BEAN LIFE SCIENCE MUSEUM BRIGHAM YOUNG university ISSN 001736140017 3614 VOLUME 58 31 OCTOBER 1998 no 4 great basin naturalist 584 0 1998 appp 295 311 ALGAL composition OF microbiotic CRUSTS FROM THE CENTRAL DESERT OF BAJA california MEXICO valenevaleriemalene R fiechtnerFlechtFlechtnernerlneri1 jeffrey R Johansenjohansenljohansen1johansenn1 and william H dark2clark2clarka ABSTRACT A total of 66 algal species representing 32 genera were recovered from soils of 10 sites in the cataviacatavifiacatavma region of the central desert of baja california mexico the most common species encountered were the cyanophytes nostoc commune and schizothnxschizothrix calcalcicolecalcicolacicola the chlorophyte myrmecia astigmatastigmaticaastigmaticalica and the diatoms hantzschiaHantzschia amphioxusamphioxys Hantzhantzschiaschia amphyoxys f capitatecapitatacapitata luticolaLuticola cosmicohniicohmibohnii Luluticolaticola luticamutica and PinnulaPinnpinnulanapinnulariaulanariaflafia borealis var scalaris nine species not found in any previous studies of north american desert soils were present in our study sites including 3 taxa new to scienceselence cyhndrocystiscylindrocystis brebissoniibrebissonnbrebissonn var desertidebertideserti var nov elakatothnxelakatothrix obtusata sp nov and fasciculochlorisfasciculochlons rnexicanamexicansmexicanamexicana sp nov attempts to correlate species composition with soil chemical and physical parameters were unsuc- cessful apart from a ph effect on cyanobactenalcyanobacterial distribution overall composition of the soil algal community in the cataviacatavifiacatavma region is distinct from other desert sites we have studied although some cosmopolitan desert soil taxa were present key words algae soil mexico baja california central desert cataviacatavifiacatavma cryptogamic crusts cylmdrocystiscylindrocystis brebis soniijoniisonn var desertidebertideserti elakatothnxelakatotbrix obtusata fasciculochlonsfasciculocbloris mexicansmeximexicanaeanacana microbiotic crusts microbiotic crusts also called cryptogamic hchemzedlichenized cyanobactenacyanobacteria fix atmospheric nitro- crusts cryptocryptobioticbiotic crusts and microphytic gen and can be significant contributors to crusts are common in many andaridarld and semiarid desert nitrogen budgets rychert and skujins areas in the western united states st clair 1974 evans and Ehlenehleringernger 1993 belnap and johansen 1993 they consist of lichens 1996 crusts are susceptible to damage by live- mosses algae and fungi which form water stock backpackers and off road vehicular traf- stable surface aggregates that have been demon- fic which disrupt the crust compact the soil strated in some regions to be important in sta- and if frequent enough kill algal lichen and bilizingbilizing soil and preventing erosion harper moss components of the crust klemerkleinerkiemerkielner and and marble 1990 johansen 1993 williams et harper 1972 anderson et al 1982 rangefireRangefire al 1995 williams dobrowolski and west can also seriously impact the crust community 1995 furthermore many of the free living and johansen et al 1982 1984 1993 natural depaitmentdepartment of biology john carroll university 20700 north paikpark blvd university heights OH 44118 cmajrmajJ smith museum of natural history albertsonaibAlbelboneibon college of idaho 2112 cleveland blvd caldwell ID 83605443283605 4432 295 296 GREAT BASIN naturalist volume 58 recovery from disturbance can take from a few does exist cameron 1969 all work on hot to many years anderson et al 1982 johansen deserts emphasizes the cyanobactenalcyanobactcrial compo- etetalal 1984 1993 callison et al 1985 nent of the soil community intelinterestest in the algal component of these the objectives of the present study were communities has increased in recent years twofold first we wished to carefully charac- early investigators of these algae were in-in terize the algal community from the central trigued by the occurrence of a group of organ- desert of baja california mexico a hot desert ismsiams generallygeneigenel allyaily thought to be aquatic in such region previously unstudied with regard to its an extremely and environment fionFlonfloristicsticstie work soil algal flora second we wished to test for has demonstrated the presence of a number of correlations between algal composition and algal geneiagenera some of which also occur in soil chemical and physical properties in sites aquatic habitats and many of which are con- with highly similar climate although soil fined to terrestrial ecosystems most fresh- chemistry has been considered important in water divisions are represented cyanophyta determining soil algal distribution starks et chlorophyta eustigmatophyta chrysophyta al 1981 correlations between taxa in desert xanthophyta bacillariophyta and euglenaeugleno soils and soil chemistry have not been made phytapayta in previously published work re- searchers tended to focus on I1 or 2 taxonomic MATERIALS AND METHODS divisions the cyanobacteriacyanobactena are probably the study area best studied group because identifications can be made based on morphomorphotypestypes in moistened ten study sites were established in the of of soils although there is considerable disparity cataviacatavifiacatavma area the central desert baja between cyanobactenalcyanobacterial floras based on mixed california mexico fig 1 a mid peninsular cultures and those based on uniumalgalunialgalalgal isolates location 9 km northwest of rancho santa ines diatoms are usually superficially treated al- 2846n IMGX 550 m elevation the geol- though rushforth and researchers trained in his ogy iss dominated by weathered cretaceous in paraguay grastilgrastie laboratory have found considerable diversity granite tonalite of the Jarjaraguayaguay block Grastil