Pan-life-carpet concept: Integrating waste valorization and biocrust engineering

Abstract

Land degradation in arid and semi-arid regions poses a major global threat to ecological stability, food security, and socio-economic resilience. Cyanobacteria-dominated biological soil crusts (biocrusts) play a critical role in soil stabilization and nutrient enrichment, but their early establishment and persistence are frequently limited by severe climatic conditions. This study combines cyanobacterial inoculation (Tolypothrix sp.) with bio-based polysaccharide matrices derived from agro-industrial and marine waste to accelerate biocrust development on loess sediment. Alginate (29.34% yield) and fucoidan (5.18% yield) were successfully isolated from the brown seaweed Laminaria digitata, while native cellulose (30.58% yield) was extracted from plum shells (Prunus domestica). Structural integrity was confirmed via FTIR spectroscopy, followed by an evaluation of their water-holding capacity (WHC) and water swelling capacity (WSC). Alginate exhibited superior hydrocolloid properties, achieving the highest WHC (0.8 g/g) and WSC (2.1 mL/g). During a 30-day laboratory cultivation, the addition of all isolated polysaccharides significantly enhanced biological crust development and biomass accumulation compared to the cyanobacteria-only treatment. The most pronounced stimulatory effect was achieved with 0.3% (m/v) alginate, which induced a ninefold increase in chlorophyll a content (352.46 μg/g) compared to the cyanobacteria control (38.33 μg/g). Fucoidan and cellulose also promoted biocrust growth, yielding significantly higher chlorophyll a value (94.82 μg/g and 77.90 μg/g, respectively) than the polysaccharide-free control. These findings validate the Pan-Life-Carpet framework, demonstrating that valorizing renewable biomass waste into eco-friendly support matrices provides a highly effective, cost-efficient, and scalable strategy for accelerated dryland restoration and soil erosion control.