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Re: cryptogamic soils (fwd)

>From: Darren <darren@eepo.com.au>
>To: Permaculture WA <perma@eepo.com.au>
>
>Victor Guest wrote:
>> 
>> I'm unsure whether anyone on this list can use this info because cryptogamic
>> soils don't mean anything to me. I might know them under another name.
>
>Maybe cryptobiotic.  The "official" line is expressed by the US National
>Park Service at http://www.nps.gov/care/crypto.htm from whence this
>extract comes:
>
>  We refer to cryptogamic soil crust - "brown sugar soil" - that dark
>  cruddy stuff which covers much of the terrain of untrampled desert
>  areas.

Can you think of an example of these soils in WA. Are they found around 
rock catchment areas in the eastern wheat belt.

>  Cryptogamic soil is actually alive, composed of several species of
>  mosses, lichens, fungi and algae. It protects the soil from erosion,
>  absorbs moisture, and provides nitrogen and other nutrients for plant
>  growth.
>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Cryptogamic soil!!  The everlasting political question.  HM says they need
>> to be broken for succession to advance.  The anti-livestock people says
>> they fix nitrogen and protect soil.  I think we have good practical evidence
>> that they need to be broken.  If you want a scientific argument why this is
>> so and how the nitrogen and other good products of the cyptogamic process are
>> unavailable to other organisms, including grass, unless the crust is broken
>> contact  Dr. David Mitchell, University of Wolverhampton / Wolverhampton
>> West Midlands WUI ISB, UK  email: d.mitchell@wlv.ac.uk

Regards,
          Vic
--
Victor Guest   V.G.Guest                       Perth, Western Australia
victor.guest@eepo.com.au                  11 Carew Place Greenwood 6024 
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