RECAP project, BLOCDUST hypothesis and SYNERGOSIS concept

Abstract

Over 40% of terrestrial ecosystems worldwide suffer from land degradation, a natural or human-influenced process that affects the functionality of the land. Cyanobacterial biocrust carpet engineering has been proposed to fight land degradation. However, the rehabilitation takes a long time due to the lack of moisture during the initial phase. To solve this problem, our new project Integrated Strategy for Rehabilitation of Disturbed Land Surfaces and Control of Air Pollution (RECAP) will introduce different types of polysaccharide supports with improved sorption properties. Such supports will increase the availability of water as the main limiting factor. The viability of the cyanobacterial inoculum will be improved, the development of the biocrust accelerated and finally the efficiency of the biocrust carpet significantly increased. The theoretical background for RECAP novelty is based on two scientific concepts developed by the RECAP team: the BLOCDUST hypothesis and the SYNERGOSIS concept. The BLOCDUST hypothesis describes the role of cyanobacteria in the process of loessification. A new definition of loess emerged from it: loess is not eolian sediment only but also biogenic. The dual origin of loess and some other sediments has been described under concept of synergosis, a new term we introduced into sciences emphasizing the physical and functional relation between biotic and abiotic components where both benefit from each other. Analyses of cyanobacterial biomass, polysaccharide and cyanotoxin production were performed. The presence of toxin genes in the selected strains was also checked and found to be negative in order to guarantee environmental and human safety.