Wind is a persistent force in arid and semiarid lands. Microphytic cru
sts have been attributed with the ability to reduce wind erosion becau
se of soil binding qualities. The purpose of this research was to dete
rmine if microphytic crusts contribute to soil stability in an arid la
nd setting. Threshold friction velocity is the wind speed necessary fo
r the initiation of soil erosion and, thus, is a measure of soil surfa
ce stability. A portable wind tunnel was used to determine threshold f
riction velocity on soil surfaces consisting of microphytic crusts liv
ing and undisturbed (control), chemically killed microphytic crusts bu
t otherwise undisturbed (chemically killed), and microphytic crusts me
chanically removed from the soil surface (scalped) to approximate cond
itions of absence. Significantly lower threshold friction velocities w
ere measured within the scalped treatment than in the control or chemi
cally killed treatments. Threshold friction velocities were not signif
icantly different among control and chemically killed treatments. Sign
ificantly more wind-eroded material, entrained in the airstream and tr
apped by an inline filter, was obtained from the scalped treatment tha
n from chemically killed or control treatments. Additionally, wind ero
sion occurred at significantly lower wind speeds in the scalped treatm
ent. Microphytic crusts helped contribute to soil stability by binding
soil particles, mainly by linked strands of cyanobacteria. Additional
designed experiments are warranted to determine how the stabilizing i
nfluence of microphytic crusts are affected by type, degree, frequency
, and season of disturbance and to answer pragmatic questions of conce
rn to managers, such as determining acceptable levels of crust disrupt
ion and the wind speeds associated with erosion.