Nice video explaining straw checkerboard dune stabilization

If you want to see the footprint of the massive dune stabilization work associated with this railroad, go to 37°29'22.94"N 105° 1'42.60"E in Google Earth. Zoom out enough so you can see the stabilized area near the rails and the unstabilized sand. Cool isn't it?

By the way, straw checkerboards lead to biocrust growth.

Rapid adjustment of leaf angle explains how the desert moss, Syntrichia caninervis, copes with multiple resource limitations during rehydrationCSIRO PUBLISHING - Functional Plant Biology

CSIRO PUBLISHING - Functional Plant Biology

Spray bacteria on the desert to halt its spread - environment - 02 January 2014 - New Scientist

Spray bacteria on the desert to halt its spread - environment - 02 January 2014 - New Scientist

This short article recently appeared in New Scientist. It's about the practice of using mass-cultured cyanobacteria to fix dunes in China, thus combatting desertification. I believe the cyanobacteria are temporally irrigated to establish them.

Taylor & Francis Online :: Biological soil crusts: An eco-adaptive biological conservative mechanism and implications for ecological restoration - Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology -

Taylor & Francis Online :: Biological soil crusts: An eco-adaptive biological conservative mechanism and implications for ecological restoration - Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology -

Taylor & Francis Online :: Responses of Microalgal-Microbial Biomass and Enzyme Activities of Biological Soil Crusts to Moisture and Inoculated Microcoleus vaginatus Gradients - Arid Land Research and Management - Volume 27, Issue 3

Taylor & Francis Online :: Responses of Microalgal-Microbial Biomass and Enzyme Activities of Biological Soil Crusts to Moisture and Inoculated Microcoleus vaginatus Gradients - Arid Land Research and Management - Volume 27, Issue 3

Taylor & Francis Online :: Diurnal Relationship Between the Surface Albedo and Surface Temperature in Revegetated Desert Ecosystems, Northwestern China - Arid Land Research and Management - Volume 26, Issue 1

Taylor & Francis Online :: Diurnal Relationship Between the Surface Albedo and Surface Temperature in Revegetated Desert Ecosystems, Northwestern China - Arid Land Research and Management - Volume 26, Issue 1

Physiological responses of soil crustforming cyanobacteria to diurnal temperature variation Wang 2012 Journal of Basic Microbiology Wiley Online Library

Physiological responses of soil crustforming cyanobacteria to diurnal temperature variation Wang 2012 Journal of Basic Microbiology Wiley Online Library

Responses of photosynthetic properties and chloroplast ultrastructure of Bryum argenteum from a desert biological soil crust to elevated ultravioletB radiation Hui Physiologia Plantarum Wiley Online Library

Responses of photosynthetic properties and chloroplast ultrastructure of Bryum argenteum from a desert biological soil crust to elevated ultravioletB radiation Hui Physiologia Plantarum Wiley Online Library