A new study in Plant and Soil shows that biological soil crusts, the thin layer of cyanobacteria, algae, mosses, and fungi on the soil surface, can significantly boost microbial residue carbon when farmers use reduced tillage. The research took place in northeast China's black soil belt, where intensive farming has depleted organic matter. Reduced tillage outperformed both regular tillage and no tillage, raising total microbial residue carbon by about 15 percent compared with crust-free soil. Fungal residues responded even more strongly than bacterial residues.
