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Plant Biol (Stuttg) 2002; 4(3): 392-402
DOI: 10.1055/s-2002-32337
Original Paper
Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart ·New York

Primary Colonization of Volcanic Rocks by Plants in Arid Baja California, Mexico

Y. Bashan 1 , C. Y. Li 2 , V. K. Lebsky 1 , M. Moreno 1 , L. E. de-Bashan 1,3
  • 1 Environmental Microbiology, The Center for Biological Research of the Northwest (CIB), La Paz, Mexico
  • 2 USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis OR 97331, USA
  • 3 Department of Biology, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Santafe de Bogota, Colombia
Further Information

Publication History

November 23, 2001

March 21, 2002

Publication Date:
20 June 2002 (online)

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Abstract

In an arid region of Baja California Sur, Mexico, field observations, combined with chemical and physical analyses, mineral analysis and scanning electron microscopy of unweathered and weathered volcanic rocks, revealed the presence of rock-colonizing plants (most are tree-shaped cacti, possibly rock weathering), growing in volcanic rocks without benefit of soil. Many are at the seedling stage. At least four cactus species (Pachycereus pringlei [S. Wats] Britt. and Ross, Stenocereus thurberi [Engelm.] Buxb. subsp. thurberi, Mamillaria fraileana [Britt. and Rose] Boed., Opuntia cholla F. A. C. Weber), and one tree (wild fig, Ficus palmeri [S. Wats]) were capable of cracking, growing in and colonizing cliffs and rocks formed from ancient lava flows and, consequently, forming soil for succession by other plant species. This study shows that plant colonization of volcanic rocks may assist soil formation, which eventually leads to accumulation of soil, water and nutrients in a desert terrestrial ecosystem that otherwise lacks these essential plant-growth variables.

Key words

Rock colonization - rock weathering - soil formation - rock-weathering cacti

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Y. Bashan

Environmental Microbiology
The Center for Biological Research of the Northwest (CIB)

P.O. Box 128
La Paz
B.C.S. 23000
Mexico

Email: bashan@cibnor.mx

Section Editor: M. C. Ball