Researchers tested whether solar panels in one desert could grow soil crust microbes for transplanting to a different, distant desert — finding that while enough crust can be produced, the resulting community doesn't fully match the target site's native biology.
1
Biocrust growth rates on transplanted soils matched native soil controls at 0.70 ± 0.16 mg chlorophyll a per square meter per month, showing quantity is achievable.
2
The microbial communities that developed were compositionally intermediate between the source (Sonoran Desert, sandy soil) and target (Chihuahuan Desert, gypsic soil) sites, not faithful copies of either.
3
Uninoculated transplanted soils developed biocrusts naturally, suggesting local environmental filtering — not just inoculation — shapes which microbes establish.
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