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Welcome

Third International Workshop on Biological Soil Crusts

September 26-30, 2016 – Moab, Utah, USA

The Third International Workshop on Biological Soil Crusts (BIOCRUST 3) will bring together international scientists working in disciplines such as physiology; taxonomy and systematics; genetics and genomics; restoration; and population, community, ecosystem and landscape ecology. Within BIOCRUST 3, these different fields are unified by their common interest in biological soil crusts, or biocrusts, as a study system. Biocrusts are like a living skin of the Earth, composed of many distinct organisms regulating ecosystem processes in modern ecosystems, and serving as a modern analog for some of the earliest ecological communities on land.

The meeting will cover the following biocrust topics:

• Mapping, monitoring, and management
• Structure and function in ecosystems
• Diversity, ecology, and biogeography
• Taxonomy and physiology of biocrust constituents
• Assessment methods
• Disturbance and restoration
• Interaction with vascular plant vegetation
• Effects of global environmental change

As the number of researchers in the field steadily increases and becomes increasingly international, the goal of BIOCRUST 3 is to provide the definitive forum for the productive exchange of ideas and the forging of new collaborations in biocrust research. Conference organizers particularly wish to facilitate attendance by researchers from developing nations and students.