3D	three-dimensional
AB	Alcian Blue
BG11	Blue-Green Medium
BCA	bicinchoninic acid
BSA	Bovine serum albumin
BSCs	Biological Soil Crusts
hMSCs	human Lin-Sca-1+ cardiac mesenchymal stem cells
DMEM	Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium
EPS	Extracellular Polymeric Substances
ePBR	emerse photobioreactor
FA	fatty acids
FAME	Fatty Acid Methyl Esters
FBS	fetal bovine serum
FT-IR	Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy
Hy	hydrogel
MUFA	monounsaturated FA
PBR	photobioreactor
PUFA	polyunsaturated FA
PEGDa	PEG-diacrylate
PFA	paraformaldehyde
REPS	Released Extracellular Polymeric Substances
REPS-Hy	REPS PEGDa-hydrogel
RP-HPLC	Reversed Phase-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography
SAFA	saturated FA
SD	standard deviations
SEM	standard errors of the mean
TST	thiosulfate: cyanide sulfur transferase
TFA	trifluoroacetic acid
WST-1	4-[3-(4-lodophenyl)-2-(4-nitrophenyl)-2H-5-tetrazolio]-1,3-benzene disulfonate
WU	water uptake