The problem of farmland degradation and air pollution caused by wind
erosion and particulate matter emissions is serious. Relying on
biological soil crust coverage can effectively inhibit the production of
wind erosion materials. However, recent studies have discussed the wind
erosion and particulate matter emission processes separately and few
studies analyzed both, clarifying the changes in the proportion of
particulate matter emissions in the total wind erosion. Aiming at the
typical farming-pastoral transition zone in the monsoon climate zone,
this study used wind tunnels to analyze the wind erosion and particulate
matter emissions of algae crusts and moss crusts for different wind
speeds and coverage conditions. Results show that the effects of wind
speed and coverage on the total wind erosion of biological soil crusts
are similar. However, the emission of particulate matter is particularly
sensitive to coverage of biological soil crusts. The proportion of
particulate matter emissions in wind erosion decreases with increasing
wind speed. According to the trend of the proportion with wind speed,
the particle emission capacity of moss crust is directly proportional to
the particle size and inversely proportional to the coverage. In
contrast, the particle emission capacity of algae crust particles is
proportional to the particle size, but the relationship with coverage is
not regular. The results of this study can improve the knowledge of the
relationship between wind erosion and particulate matter emissions and
give relevant information for the management of wind erosion and
particulate matter emissions.