#id credit it if I could

[jeena-says-hi]

Scar and Grian:

[necromosss]

Im sorry i just had to put this here because i love this so much and my local dollmaker did an amazing job cus LOOK AT HIM

TINY!! I love him so much omg im just so happy

[iknowicanbutwhy]

too eepy after work to have a life, stardust? smh

[kissmel0ser]

Free to use relationship charts for ships and oc stuff! :D!!

[crystalpallette]

so I finished side order recently

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

not a desert technically but I just visited the dunes in Monterey and gleefully trampled on some ice plant and I feel like you might enjoy that. if you wanna talk about the kinds of vegetation that grow in sandy soil or something I invite you to 👀

(also you're doing it! you're surviving! you'll get through that doctorate!)

ok ready this is my most important soapbox of all because soils in the desert are very special and have such cool organisms you don't find in these arrangements outside of drylands...

first lookee here. wauw beautiful utah

ok now look closer

no closer closer closer

CLOSER CLOSER CLOSER

WOW is that MOSS? you are thinking. the answer is YES. but doesn't moss like lots of water you are thinking??? WELL USUALLY. BUT in the desert you will notice that things like grasses and shrubs have lots of space between them unlike in more temperate climates-vegetation cover is not truly continuous. And there's less leaf litter than in forests obscuring the dirt. Which means all that soil is just sitting out in the open with nothing to protect it from being blown away by those harsh desert winds... except of course for our friends the BIOLOGICAL SOIL CRUSTS. also known as crypotbiotic soils, cryptogrammic soils, and biocrusts (for short).

These are communities of mosses, lichens, cyanobacteria (aka blue green algae--yes, those are usually Wet too, but ironically so so common in deserts), and the tens of thousands of surface and subsurface microbes that are associated with them. It's easy to forget just how many organisms are living in one single scoop of soil, especially because science can barely identify 1% of these microbes. Like of JUST the ones we have enough info to classify enough to count in my own master's dataset left me with over 25,000 unique taxonomic units I had to manage. don't worry about what that means just know it was very annoying and makes statistics a headache. anyway you find them all over the southwest US states as well as in other deserts around the world (spain, australia, sooo many in china, incredible ones in the succulent karoo in south africa/namibia, plenty in argentina etc etc), if you know where to look...

anyway OUR HEROS THE BIOCRUST aren't just there to look pretty (though you will can see from photos they also do this :) ), but are a vital component to the dryland ecosystem! They literally hold the soil surface together to prevent erosion, they influence hydrology in terms of rainfall runoff + infiltration, they impact how seeds germinate, they contribute to nutrient cycling and what plant-available compounds are held at the soil surface... like i feel like Tumblr in general has been made aware of how fungi & root networks interact in large scale systems like forests, but that is also happening on a more microscopic level in deserts! just in the top couple centimeters soooo much is happening. Cyanobacteria in particular are tiny organisms that produce little nets of sugars woven in the soil to climb around on and protect themselves, and if you crumble a little bit of soil from the surface you can see how the little spiderweb strings literally hold together the sand particles.

Now that you're Aware of biocrusts, when you look at larger scale landscape photos taken in un-trampled areas of desert, you will notice them as darker patches and textures on the lighter soil:

Yep there's these tiny little communities all over, that many people never learn to see. And now what I said before about mosses & cyanobacteria usually preferring wet environments--they have in fact adapted to life in the desert in ways that means they're dormant for most of the year. They live in stasis until the rainy season hits (or in some cases, winter moisture from a snow layer--many will photosynthesize through a few inches of snow since it's clear/white), and then burst into color and life. Many patches of biocrust will look utterly lifeless and dried out at first and then become vibrant and swell up within a few minutes of being exposed to moisture. Lichens, while more vibrant even when dry, will also mostly only grow/reproduce while wet. And biocrusts come in all sorts of colors, shapes, and preferred microhabitats!

anyway this post is long enough already so i'll be quick. while beautiful and important as you can imagine these are FRAGILE. if they get trampled too much, by humans or cows or cars, that's it. you're back to bare soil that can blow away whenever it wants.

I was lucky to get to participate in a 2x/year survey of one of the very few places in Utah to NEVER have cattle grazing or development, a remote area the entrance is kept secret to inside Canyonlands National Park, where you can see just how dense and lush biocrusts once could be in the US southwest:

ah... glorious. what special little guys. this is why if you visit many of the national parks in Utah you will see signs & stickers around with slogans like "Don't Bust The Crust" and "Tiptoe Through The Crypto" and etc. so heed that advice but DO stop and kneel down and get a better look at them!

[st5lker]

hi this is all the money i have to my name right now and its midterm season, i know there are a lot of people in the world that need donations more than me right now and i hope you’ve been donating to them too but if you have anything at all else you can spare so that i can have more time to focus on my studies without worrying abt affording food and gas id really really appreciate it

venmo

paypal

cashapp

[crayon-clouds]

animal crossing (nintendo gamecube)

e-reader cards that can be scanned for in-game playable NES system furniture items, featuring the games "ice climber" and "mario bros"

[dykemcqueen]

normal. normal. feeling normal about them

[braceletofteeth]

It just occured to me that Fadel has been keeping Style's wallet hostage this whole time

[stoppingoftheheart]

need one of you heartstopper edits people to make an edit of mr lange saying “im sure you’ll get along swimmingly” then showing a montage of nick and charlie GETTING ALONG VERY SWIMMINGLY

[sarah-sandwich]

If I was a millionaire I'd commission artists and photographers to design billboards that look like the scenery behind the billboard then rent the ad space on that billboard for as long as I could. No text. Not selling anything. Just art and the silent question, "what if this thing wasn't here?" The goal would be to eventually take over all the physical ad space in my city (buses, benches, etc) until the city itself becomes a thought provoking art exhibit.

[bubblegeon]

You've always saved me.

🚉 PENDING TRAIN 8:23 ASHITA KIMI TO (2023)

[thelemonsnek]

visuals i made for a real actual paper i wrote for my sociology class that my professor will be reading

[image ids: the first image is a black and white drawing of Ingo and Emmet, from some time after Ingo disappeared. They both look neutrally forwards. Ingo is bedraggled per usual in Hisui, and Emmet looks tired. To either side of them are triangles emphasizing what shape their goatee is.

The second image is a photo of a salt and pepper shaker. The Submas Sideburns are drawn on top of them.

The third image is an edit of Shrek. He gestures at Donkey, saying, "submas fandom is like onions. submas fandom has layers, onions have layers... you get it? we both have layers."

The final image is an edit of the Marge potato meme. She holds Ingo and Emmet up, saying "I just think they're neat!" End id]

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

hey..,..,,,, hey,,,..,. hey im holding ur hand so so gently,,,.,,. i need you to listen to american express from two strangers carry a cake across new york and picture college age steph and pete stealing mayor lauter's credit card and going absolutley ham in nyc with his money,,,..,. you gotta do it man..,,, i promise it's gonna help everything

[spaciebabie]

it never occurred ta me that the "you're going 2 brazil" meme was a reference ta something i just thought we all collectively sat down as humans and thought, "what would be the the funniest place ta haul some poor fuck ta" and all looked and pointed at brazil and said, "yes, that one"