Biological soil crust, or biocrust, on dryland near Winnemucca, Nevada, on the Great Basin. The metal quadrat (a square meter) is used in surveying the functional groups of the biocrust and ...

Vol. 429, No. 1/2, Part I: Special Issue: Biocrusts: The Living Skin of the Earth (August 2018), pp. 19-34 (16 pages) Background Extracellular polymeric matrix (EPM) is a complex component of the ...

Biological soil crusts, known as biocrusts, are lichens, algae, mosses, fungi, and cyanobacteria common on the soil surface.[i]They are critical to arid ecosystems, where they help to reduce soil ...

This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract Background and aims Despite the important role of biological soil crusts in the soil carbon cycles of desert ecosystems, the responses of soil ...

Scott Ferrenberg, who earned his Ph.D. in biology from CU-Boulder, is shown near Moab, Utah, where he and CU alumna Sasha Reed conducted a groundbreaking study on biocrust. Photo courtesy of Scott ...

Biological soil crusts -- or communities of microorganisms that grow on the surface of the soil when there is no plant cover -- are key in protecting the soil from erosion and providing an environment ...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – In a greenhouse at Northern Arizona University, a professor is researching an oft-overlooked ecological field that could play an important role in preventing erosion and helping ...

Moab • The sandstone towers near Castle Valley glowed as a few rays of evening light cut through the clouds, but Sasha Reed’s eyes were turned to the ground. A mottled crust covered the deeply ...

The scenery of southeastern Utah is hard to miss. Steep redrock canyons plunge into long and lazy riverbends; wind-sculpted stone arches glow pinkly at sunset. But when biologist Jayne Belnap hikes ...

This looks like ordinary dirt but it is a biological soil crust (BSC), a living mantle of soil particles bound together by microbes and their by-products. BSCs are common to the arid and semiarid ...