Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model

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  • dc.contributor.author Vidiella Rocamora, Blai
  • dc.contributor.author Sardanyés i Cayuela, Josep
  • dc.contributor.author Solé Vicente, Ricard, 1962-
  • dc.date.accessioned 2020-11-05T06:54:23Z
  • dc.date.available 2020-11-05T06:54:23Z
  • dc.date.issued 2020
  • dc.description.abstract Semiarid ecosystems are threatened by global warming due to longer dehydration times and increasing soil degradation. Mounting evidence indicates that, given the current trends, drylands are likely to expand and possibly experience catastrophic shifts from vegetated to desert states. Here, we explore a recent suggestion based on the concept of ecosystem terraformation, where a synthetic organism is used to counterbalance some of the nonlinear effects causing the presence of such tipping points. Using an explicit spatial model incorporating facilitation and considering a simplification of states found in semiarid ecosystems including vegetation, fertile and desert soil, we investigate how engineered microorganisms can shape the fate of these ecosystems. Specifically, two different, but complementary, terraformation strategies are proposed: Cooperation-based: C-terraformation; and Dispersion-based: D-terraformation. The first strategy involves the use of soil synthetic microorganisms to introduce cooperative loops (facilitation) with the vegetation. The second one involves the introduction of engineered microorganisms improving their dispersal capacity, thus facilitating the transition from desert to fertile soil. We show that small modifications enhancing cooperative loops can effectively modify the aridity level of the critical transition found at increasing soil degradation rates, also identifying a stronger protection against soil degradation by using the D-terraformation strategy. The same results are found in a mean-field model providing insights into the transitions and dynamics tied to these terraformation strategies. The potential consequences and extensions of these models are discussed.
  • dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
  • dc.identifier.citation Vidiella B, Sardanyés J, Solé RV. Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model. R Soc Open Sci. 2020; 7(8):200161. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.200161
  • dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200161
  • dc.identifier.issn 2054-5703
  • dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45662
  • dc.language.iso eng
  • dc.publisher Royal Society
  • dc.relation.ispartof R Soc Open Sci. 2020; 7(8):200161
  • dc.rights © 2020 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
  • dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
  • dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  • dc.subject.keyword Catastrophic shifts
  • dc.subject.keyword Climate change
  • dc.subject.keyword Ecological engineering
  • dc.subject.keyword Mutualism
  • dc.subject.keyword Synthetic biology
  • dc.subject.keyword Synthetic ecology
  • dc.title Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
  • dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
  • dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion