Biocrust cover and successional stages influence soil bacterial composition and diversity in semiarid ecosystems

[Display omitted] •Successional stages of biocrusts control the structure of soil bacterial communities.•Biocrust cover influences the total abundance of soil bacteria.•Some bacterial taxa are specifically associated to each biocrust type.•Parallel changes occur in soil chemistry and soil bacteria with biocrust succession.•Alpha-diversity is higher in soils colonized by late-successional biocrusts. Biocrusts are an important drylands landscape component, which enriches the upper millimeters of the soil with organic matter and initiates biogeochemical cycles. However, little is known about the influence of biocrusts on soil bacterial community structure and diversity. Different biocrust types representing a successional gradient were studied. This gradient, from the earliest to the latest successional stages, consisted of an incipient cyanobacterial biocrust