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Topsoil from arid regions is the main source of dust clouds that move through the earth’s atmosphere, and microbial communities within these soils can survive long-range dispersion. Microbial abundance and chemical composition were analyzed in topsoil from various desert regions. Statistical analyses showed that microbial direct counts were strongly positively correlated with calcium concentrations and negatively correlated with silicon concentrations. While variance between deserts was expected, it was interesting to note differences between sample sites within a given desert region, illustrating the ’patchy’ nature of microbial communities in desert environments. (C) 2012 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.