Fragile cryptobiotic crusts, themselves of significant biological interest, play a critical role throughout the monument, stabilizing the highly erodible desert soils and providing nutrients to plants.    From Wordnik.com.  [Proclamation Of Grand Staircase National Monument] Reference

Also learned about cryptobiotic soil, which is important to keep the sand and nutrients in place.    From Wordnik.com.  [TravelPod.com Recent Updates] Reference

The most common cryptobiotic strategy (and the one employed by Eureka’s insect plague) is to become desiccated, with a creature losing nearly all its water in a process known as anhydrobiosis.    From Wordnik.com.  [Eureka: Putting the Crypt in Cryptobiosis] Reference