This database contains information concerning Biological Soil Crusts from deserts of North America (Sonoran desert, Colorado Plateau, Chihuahuan desert, Mojave desert, Northern Great Basin). Links are provided to locate sampling sites on an interactive map, as well as tables with information regarding the specific regions and sites of collection, the microbial biodiversity within the samples, the cultures of the organisms retrieved from those samples, and the inventory of the DNA extracts from those samples.
Samples of Biological Soil Crusts were collected along 500-m transects in arid and semiarid areas of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, California, and Oregon. Samples were collected in duplicates and numbered continuously. They are kept in the Microbial Ecology and Geomicrobiology lab at the Arizona State University (Tempe Campus).