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

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 explor...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Vidiella Rocamora, Blai, Sardanyés i Cayuela, Josep, Solé Vicente, Ricard, 1962-
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Recursos:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10230/45662
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45662
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200161
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Catastrophic shifts
Climate change
Ecological engineering
Mutualism
Synthetic biology
Synthetic ecology
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spelling Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial modelVidiella Rocamora, BlaiSardanyés i Cayuela, JosepSolé Vicente, Ricard, 1962-Catastrophic shiftsClimate changeEcological engineeringMutualismSynthetic biologySynthetic ecologySemiarid 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.Royal Society202020202020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/45662http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200161reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunyainstname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)InglésR Soc Open Sci. 2020; 7(8):200161© 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.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:recercat.cat:10230/456622026-05-29T05:05:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
title Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
spellingShingle Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
Vidiella Rocamora, Blai
Catastrophic shifts
Climate change
Ecological engineering
Mutualism
Synthetic biology
Synthetic ecology
title_short Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
title_full Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
title_fullStr Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
title_full_unstemmed Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
title_sort Synthetic soil crusts against green-desert transitions: a spatial model
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Vidiella Rocamora, Blai
Sardanyés i Cayuela, Josep
Solé Vicente, Ricard, 1962-
author Vidiella Rocamora, Blai
author_facet Vidiella Rocamora, Blai
Sardanyés i Cayuela, Josep
Solé Vicente, Ricard, 1962-
author_role author
author2 Sardanyés i Cayuela, Josep
Solé Vicente, Ricard, 1962-
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Catastrophic shifts
Climate change
Ecological engineering
Mutualism
Synthetic biology
Synthetic ecology
topic Catastrophic shifts
Climate change
Ecological engineering
Mutualism
Synthetic biology
Synthetic ecology
description 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.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
2020
2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45662
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200161
url http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45662
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200161
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv R Soc Open Sci. 2020; 7(8):200161
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Royal Society
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Royal Society
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
instname:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
instname_str Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
reponame_str Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
collection Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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