Skip to main content
. 2011 Mar 3;5(9):1406–1413. doi: 10.1038/ismej.2011.21

Figure 1.

Figure 1

World map showing locations of desert sampling sites and number of samples recovered per location. Two non-arid locations (Chiang Mai, Thailand (warm tropical) and Yellowstone National Park, USA (cold temperate)) were also included for reference, but were not included in the analysis. Climate classification follows an updated Köppen–Geiger scheme (Peel et al., 2007) as follows, where MAT=mean annual temperature (°C) and MAP=mean annual precipitation (xPthreshold): BWh, hot arid desert (MAT>18, MAP <5); BWk, cold arid desert (MAT <18, MAP <5); ET, polar tundra (MAT <10); EF, polar frost (MAT <0); Dfa, cold winter (MAThot>10, MATcold <0). Deserts experiencing mean annual temperature <18 °C but hot diurnal and/or seasonal temperatures (Atacama, Taklimakan, Turpan) are categorized as warm arid deserts (BWw; MAT>10, MAP <5; Thomas, 1997). Quartz substrate was identified using USGS (The United States Geological Survey) mineral identification criteria (http://pasadena.wr.usgs.gov/office/given/geo1/).