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Biocrusts are critical components of desert ecosystems, significantly modifying the surfaces they occupy. Although the presence of fine soil particles is known to be conducive to biocrust development and recovery from disturbance, their influence on the inceptive development of biocrusts has not been empirically studied. In this study, the effect of substrate granulometry on the development of biocrusts was explored, under controlled laboratory conditions of light, soil humidity, and temperature. A cyanobacterial inoculum of Microcoleus vaginatus was applied to five sand fractions in the range of 1–2000 μm. The results showed that the biocrusts developed more rapidly on the fine fraction (<125 μm) than on the coarser fractions. While the biocrust cover on the fine fraction was spatially homogenous, it was patchy and discontinuous on the coarse fractions. The difference in the pore size between the different fractions is …