Carbon addition has been proposed as an alternative to herbicide and manual removal methods to treat non‐native plants and reduce non‐target effects of treatments (e.g. impacts on native plants; surface disturbance). On Mojave Desert pavement and biocrust substrates after experimental soil disturbance and carbon addition (1,263 g C/m² as sucrose), we observed declines in lichens and moss cover in sucrose‐treated plots. To further explore this unforeseen potential side effect of using carbon addition as a non‐native plant treatment, we conducted biocrust surveys 5 and 7 years after treatments, sampled surface soils to observe if treatments additionally affected soil filamentous cyanobacteria, and conducted laboratory trials testing the effects of different levels of sucrose on cyanobacteria and desert mosses. Sucrose addition to biocrust plots reduced lichen and moss cover by 33–78% and species richness by 40–80%. Sucrose reduced biocrust cover in biocrust plots to levels similarly detected in pavement plots (<1%). While cyanobacteria in the field did not appear to be affected by sucrose, laboratory tests showed negative effects of sucrose on both cyanobacteria and mosses. Cyanobacteria declined by 41% 1 month after exposure to 5.4 g C/m² equivalent solutions. We detected injury to photosynthesis in mosses after 96 hour exposure to 79–316 g C/m² equivalent solutions. Caution is warranted when using carbon addition, at least in the form and concentration of sucrose, as a treatment for reducing non‐native plants on sites where conserving biocrust is a goal.

中文翻译：

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使用碳添加处理非本地植物后，生物结皮产生意外的副作用

已提出碳添加作为除草剂和人工清除方法的替代品，以处理非本地植物并减少处理的非目标效应（例如，对天然植物的影响；表面干扰）。在实验性土壤扰动和碳添加后（1263 g C / m ^2）在莫哈韦沙漠路面和生物结壳基质上如蔗糖），我们观察到在用蔗糖处理过的地块中地衣和苔藓覆盖率下降了。为了进一步探讨使用碳添加作为非本地植物处理方法这一不可预见的潜在副作用，我们在处理后的5年和7年进行了生物结皮调查，对表层土壤进行了采样，以观察处理方法是否还会影响土壤的丝状蓝细菌，并进行了实验室试验来测试蔗糖水平对蓝细菌和沙漠苔藓的影响 在生物结皮地块中添加蔗糖可使地衣和苔藓覆盖率降低33-78％，物种丰富度降低40-80％。蔗糖将生物结皮中的生物结皮覆盖率降低到路面中相似的水平（<1％）。尽管该领域的蓝细菌似乎未受到蔗糖的影响，但实验室测试表明，蔗糖对蓝细菌和苔藓均具有负面影响。^2个等效解决方案。在暴露于79–316 g C / m ^2的当量溶液中96小时后，我们检测到了苔藓中光合作用的损伤。当使用碳时，至少以蔗糖的形式和浓度添加碳时，应谨慎行事，以减少目标是保护生物结皮的非本地植物。