| چکیده انگلیسی مقاله |
Land degradation is known as a global threat to food security and ecosystem health, which the world needs a transition from the current system to a state where it can achieve defined Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations. Adopting land management policies, as biological soil crusts (BSCs) creation/reclamation, can help to achieve the transition goals. However, outlining the path is taken and the outlook for the future can make researches and actions more targeted. Thus, we reviewed a wide range of global studies focused on the BSCs and analyzed the relevant researches trends to date. We also tried to draw the next steps that are expected to be taken and the challenges that lie ahead. We found more than 10,600 documents to analyze all aspects of BSCs capabilities and behavior from 1948 to 2021 AD. Our review showed that BSCs studies are classified into three time periods. From 1948 to 1972 AD, the studies have focused on assessing the environmental factors on biological soil crusts behavior. Then, numerous studies were then started (1972 AD) to investigate the impact of BSCs on the soil properties and the behavior of the land degradation indicators (e.g., runoff, soil loss, and biodiversity) and continued until 2009 AD. After confirming the role of the BSCs on land health, laboratory-scale/controlled conditions research to artificially create BSCs through inoculation-based techniques, stimulation of crustal microorganisms, and transfer of rich BSCs to degraded lands began from 2009 to 2019 AD. Forasmuch as the experiments under laboratory have pointed out the positive results of the inoculation technique in terms of BSCs creation/restoration, one step ahead, new researches have recently (2020-2021 AD) planned field-pilot experiments to use soil inoculation for BSCs creation in line with degraded lands restoration programs. We also found, however, there are concerns regarding the large field-scale application of the inoculation technique for BSCs creation/reclamation, which poses challenges to the future of this approach. High inoculum production, tools required for large-scale inoculation, harsh environmental conditions in the establishment times of BSCs, and durability of artificial BSCs are some of the challenges ahead. |
