Fact sheet on the need to protect biological soil crusts in the desert. These crusts are most of the soil surface in deserts not covered by green plants and are inhabited by cyanobacterium (blue-green algae) and other organisms useful to the ecosystem.
Research results (publications, photographs, maps) on ecological processes within the Mojave Desert Ecosystem to provide land managers with scientific understanding and tools needed to conserve and restore threatened desert landscapes.
Links to studies at the Amargosa Desert Research Site by the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program studying the subsurface migration and fate of contaminants in arid environments. Links to news, remediation, photos, bibliography and techniques.
Explains biological soil crusts, organism-produced soil formations commonly found in semiarid and arid environments, with special reference to their biological composition, physical characteristics, and ecological significance.
Describes biological soil crusts, with special reference to their role in resisting soil erosion, improving soil fertility, and increasing water infiltration in the deserts of the Colorado Plateau region.
Study of wildland fire history and fire ecology such as plants in the Sierra Nevada forests, California shrublands, the Mojave, and Sonoran deserts to develop management techniques that will reduce hazards.