Biological soil crust cover from the Taylor Grazing Act exclosures

Seven exclosures that were part of the original 28 Taylor Grazing Act exclosures across northern Nevada were surveyed for cover of biological soil crusts in May 2018. Surveys consisted of 15 quadrats both inside and outside of the exclosures. Quadrats were used to measure biocrust cover via point-intercept at 39 vertices within each quadrat. Cattle grazing outside of the exclosures was characterized by distance from the closest water source as well as permitted, suspended and active Animal Unit Months from the Rangeland Administration System. Abundance of cyanobacteria in the soils was assessed with the moistened soil method.