Table 1.
Chemical parameters of the studied soil crusts.
| Parameter | SC1 | SC2 | SC3 | SC4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pH | 8.1 ± 0.01 (a) | 8.0 ± 0.08 (a) | 7.8 ± 0.06 (a,b) | 7.5 ± 0.05 (b) |
| Water content (%) | 19.6 ± 2.4 (a) | 30.8 ± 3.9 (b) | 35.3 ± 3.0 (b) | 34.5 ± 0.1 (b) |
| Conductivity (μS cm−1) | 101 ± 5 (a) | 365 ± 136 (b) | 242 ± 31 (a,b) | 269 ± 34 (a,b) |
| Total organic carbon (%) | 4.8 ± 0.2 (a) | 11.5 ± 2.0 (b) | 15.6 ± 2.7 (b,c) | 16.9 ± 0.8 (c) |
| N-NH4 (μg kg−1) | 3.5 ± 0.6 (a) | 4.0 ± 1.5 (a) | 5.7 ± 1.7(a) | 3.4 ± 0.6(a) |
| N-NO3 (μg kg−1) | 0.7 ± 0.5 (a) | 0.4 ± 0.1 (a) | 0.7 ± 0.1(a) | 4.4 ± 0.8(b) |
| P-PO4 (μg kg−1) | 19.1 ± 0.0 (a) | 15.6 ± 1.1 (a) | 18.3 ± 4.3 (a) | 19.4 ± 0.3 (a) |
| Ca2+ (μg g−1) | 5.8 ± 0.3 (a) | 16.5 ± 1.2 (b) | 7.6 ± 0.2 (c) | 8.2 ± 0.2 (c) |
| Mg2+ (μg kg−1) | 808 ± 39 (a) | 534 ± 54 (b) | 799 ± 40(a) | 417 ± 14(c) |
| K+ (μg kg−1) | 144 ± 5 (a) | 208 ± 16 (b) | 322 ± 40(c) | 221 ± 13 (b) |
| Na+ (μg kg−1) | 36 ± 12 (a,b) | 39 ± 10 (a,b) | 45 ± 4(a) | 18 ± 0.3(b) |
a–cValues are shown as the average (± SD) of the measurements of the three independent samples per site.
Same letters indicate no statistical difference between groups according to one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's pairwise posthoc tests (P < 0.05).