The Mojave Desert ecosystem is currently facing several problems, many of which are due to the rapid urbanization of cities, such as Los Angeles, and other human impacts in the environment (Christopher R. 2001). Military facilities are coming into the region and farms are emerging along the river. Off-road vehicles and unwary tourists are disrupting the lithosphere. Furthermore, wells and agriculture are causing the depletion of underground water. All of these activities are harming and disrupting both the wildlife and the landscape in the Mojave Desert, but it is important to look at the reason why.
Biological soil crusts, which cover areas not covered by green plants, are of immense importance in desert ecosystems because cyanobacteria, along with other organisms, live in these crusts and have a very important role in minimizing erosion, increasing water retention and improving the overall health of the soil (Alwathnani, 2011). These organisms are capable of absorbing water up to ten times their volume when it rains, making it available to autotrophs. This is of extreme importance because water is essential for photosynthesis, the process that creates glucose monomers for plant growth. These organisms also fix nitrogen and produce organic matter, another necessary process for proper ecosystem function. Plants receive enough sunlight and have enough carbon dioxide in the Mojave Desert, but they still need water and nutrients. Since water is scarce and limiting in the desert, these organisms in the soil help producers get what they need so that photosynthesis may take place. By fixing nitrogen and creating organic matter out of raw materials, these decomposers are also creating the nutrients that autotrophs take up from the soil and then transfer to heterotrophs through predation. In essence, cyanobacteria and other organisms in the soil enable both the cycling of matter (by fixing nitrogen and making it available to plants) and energy (by giving plants the water they need in order to produce glucose).  Once there are water and nutrients available to the first trophic level, matter can cycle and energy can flow through the rest of the trophic levels.
Disruption of the desert’s crust therefore has a transcendental impact on the entire Mojave Desert ecosystem. Once the soil is crushed, it takes about twenty years for organisms in the lithosphere to recover and return to their previous nitrogen production levels; the harsh conditions of the desert, specifically the significantly small amount of rainfall, may make this process even slower. Nevertheless, efforts by many public and private agencies have helped in the recovery and conservation of the region. The Desert Managers Group has taken the lead in coordinating desert conservation, and a large part of the Mojave Desert has become a National Park under federal protection.