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 (F-v/F-m) of moss-, lichen- and cyanobactcria-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 F-v/F-m values than dry crusts. A significant correlation between the PRI and F-v/F-m was found in moss- and lichen-dominated crusts, and the determination coefficients were higher than those between the NDVI and F-v/F-m.