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Temporal Variation In Community Composition, Pigmentation, And Fv/Fm Of Desert Cyanobacterial Soil Crusts, M. A. Bowker, S. C. Reed, J. Belnap, S. L. Phillips

Canyonlands Research Bibliography

Summers on the Colorado Plateau (USA) are typified by harsh conditions such as high temperatures, brief soil hydration periods, and high UV and visible radiation. We investigated whether community composition, physiological status, and pigmentation might vary in biological soil crusts as a result of such conditions. Representative surface cores were sampled at the ENE, WSW, and top microaspects of 20 individual soil crust pedicels at a single site in Canyonlands National Park, Utah, in spring and fall of 1999. Frequency of cyanobacterial taxa, pigment concentrations, and dark adapted quantum yield (Fv/Fm) were measured for each core. The frequency of major …