Relating photosynthesis of biological soil crusts with reflectance: preliminary assessment based on a hydration experiment.

This paper examines the relationship between spectral indices (the normalized difference vegetation index [NDVI] and photochemical reflectance index [PRI]) and the photosynthetic capacities based on chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm ) of moss-, lichen- and cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crusts collected from the Gurbantonggut Desert, Xinjiang, China, based on a liquid-water hydration experiment. While no photosynthetic activity was detected for dry crusts, hydrated crusts showed significantly higher Fv/Fm values than dry crusts. A significant correlation between the PRI and Fv/Fm was found in moss- and lichen-dominated crusts, and the determination coefficients were higher than those between the NDVI and Fv/Fm . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]