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Table 1 Biocrust biological, physical, and chemical characteristics

From: Denitrification from nitrogen-fixing biologically crusted soils in a cool desert environment, southeast Utah, USA

Soil measurement

Unit

Number

Light

Dark

Chlorophyll a

μg g soil-1

64

3.8 (0.24)

6.5 (0.28)

Crust cover

    

Light crust

% cover

64

94.8 (1.0)

4.5 (1.7)

Dark crust

% cover

64

3.3 (0.9)

87.0 (2.6)

Collema

% cover

64

0.1 (0.1)

6.0 (1.6)

Other lichen

% cover

64

0.0 (0.0)

1.1 (0.4)

Rock

% cover

64

0.1 (0.1)

0.1 (0.1)

Moss

% cover

64

1.8 (0.4)

2.5 (0.6)

Soil texture (0–5 cm)

    

Sand

% by mass

16

82.3 (0.6)

82.6 (0.6)

Silt

% by mass

16

13.3 (0.8)

13.5 (0.7)

Clay

% by mass

16

4.4 (0.4)

3.9 (0.4)

Chemical characteristics

    

Soil organic C 0–2 cm

% by mass

64

0.32 (0.02)

0.41 (0.01)

Soil organic C 2–5 cm

% by mass

64

0.31 (0.01)

0.27 (0.01)

Soil total N 0–2 cm

% by mass

64

0.032 (0.001)

0.041 (0.001)

Soil total N 2–5 cm

% by mass

64

0.028 (0.001)

0.026 (0.001)

  1. Values are mean ± 1 SE.