The Funky, Fragile World Beneath Your Feet

As a young woman from the East Coast, Sasha Reed had never been camping before when she was introduced to the Arizona desert by her future husband. She fell in love with both, and crouching on the dry ground she noticed and became obsessed with fragile communities of organisms known as "biocrust." This led her into a scientific field, biogeochemistry, that would shape her professional life. With infectious enthusiasm, she's become an evangelist for biocrust communities, finding joy and amusement in their spunky methods of not only surviving, but thriving. Guest: Sasha Reed, biogeochemist with the U.S. Geological Survey, researching biocrust Photo credit: Canyonlands National Park, Utah. © William Bowman