Notice of RetractionThe Microstructure and Formation of Artificial Biological Crusts of Cyanobacteria Nostoc flagelliforme on Fine Sands

Notice of Retraction

After careful and considered review of the content of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE´s Publication Principles.

We hereby retract the content of this paper. Reasonable effort should be made to remove all past references to this paper.

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The arid desert area is expanding by 6 million ha per year. Nostoc flagelliforme, a terrestrial cyanobacterium, is known as a pioneer organism which can photosynthesize, fix atmospheric nitrogen, and secrete polysaccharides. In order to explore the potential of it as a countermeasure to soil desertification, N. flagelliforme cells in liquid culture was cultivated on fine sands and developed an artificial biological crust under laboratory conditions. After one year of cultivation, 1.5-2.0mm biological crusts were formed. In stereomicroscope, a dense superficial network of cells and extracellular polymer secretions (EPS) covered the sand surface. Microscopic examination of the crust revealed an intricate network of filamentous cyanobacteria and extracellular polymer secretions, which binds and entraps sand particles on the filament surface. Moreover, the N. flagelliforme cells developed to the natural morphology of wild N. flagelliforme thallus in microscopic observation. These results indicated that the biological crust of cyanobacteria N. flagelliforme had potential application in soil desertification and was extremely important to improve desertification.