ArticleScience advances2023
Biocrusts protect the Great Wall of China from erosion.
Article in Science advances, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Identification of keystone taxa shaping biocrust formation and biodeterioration of limestone monuments in the Xiaoling Tomb of the Ming Dynasty.Environmental microbiome · 2026Article
- Biocrusts: Guardians of the Great Wall of China.Innovation (Cambridge (Mass.)) · 2026Review
- Analysis of Microbial Communities and Microbial Preservation of the Qilin Screen Wall and Text Brick Wall in the Jinshanling Great Wall.Microorganisms · 2026Article
- Soil biodiversity and function under global change.PLoS biology · 2025Review
- Biological soil crust microcolonies reveal how microbial communities assemble following retreat of a High Arctic glacier.FEMS microbes · 2025Article
- Hard shell, soft blue-green core: Ecology, processes, and modern applications of calcification in terrestrial cyanobacteria.iScience · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Great Wall of China, one of the most emblematic and historical structures built by humankind throughout all of history, is suffering from rain and wind erosion and is largely colonized by biocrusts. However, how biocrusts influence the conservation and longevity of this structure is virtually unknown. Here, we conducted an extensive biocrust survey across the Great Wall and found that biocrusts cover 67% of the studied sections. Biocrusts enhance the mechanical stability and reduce the erodibility of the Great Wall. Compared with bare rammed earth, the biocrust-covered sections exhibited reduced porosity, water-holding capacity, erodibility, and salinity by 2 to 48%, while increasing compressive strength, penetration resistance, shear strength, and aggregate stability by 37 to 321%. We further found that the protective function of biocrusts mainly depended on biocrust features, climatic conditions, and structure types. Our work highlights the fundamental importance of biocrusts as a nature-based intervention to the conservation of the Great Wall, protecting this monumental heritage from erosion.
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Registered trials
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