BIOTA S04/S05: Biological crusts – Informatics
BMBF/DLR UF-UFLCO1263600 – 01LC0024
From 10/2000 to 09/2003Principal Investigator: Gerhard Rambold
Staff: Luciana Zedda, Dieter Neubacher
The BIOTA S04/S05: Biological Crusts – Informatics project was part of the BIOTA AFRICA initiative, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Its goal was to study biological soil crusts in arid regions of southern Africa and develop a management and analysis system for georeferenced lichenological data. Among the participants were Luciana Zedda, Dieter Neubacher, and Gerhard Rambold. Biological soil crusts are microecosystems where soil particles are bound and stabilized by organisms such as cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and mosses. They play a crucial role in soil stabilization and significantly influence water dynamics in arid regions. As part of BIOTA AFRICA, standardized biodiversity observatories were established to enable repeated, multidisciplinary assessments of biodiversity and its environmental factors. These observatories cover 1 km² and are divided into 100-hectare plots, allowing systematic studies of various organism groups and environmental parameters. Subproject S04 focused on monitoring lichen diversity in southern Africa and developing a management and analysis system for georeferenced lichenological data. S05 dealt with analyzing biological soil crusts and their ecological significance in these regions. By integrating informatics components, efficient databases and analysis tools were developed to manage and evaluate large datasets. This enhanced understanding of biodiversity patterns and supported sustainable management strategies for arid ecosystems.