Tag: hydrothermal vent

Everyday Nature: The Microbes Around (and In) Us

February 15, 2013  |  by: Sophie Parker  |  0

Try this: close your eyes and conjure up an image of a “biodiverse ecosystem.”

What do you see?

Perhaps a tropical rainforest, dewy vines glistening, howler monkeys calling through the trees, and butterflies flitting in the sun-dappled heat?

Or maybe you pictured a coral reef, replete with white-tipped reef sharks, sea turtles, brain coral, and giant iridescent clams? Admittedly, tropical ecosystems in places such as Costa Rica and Indonesia do contain a stunning array of macro-biodiversity– that is, larger plants and animals.

But what about the little guys?

Microbes make up the vast majority of life on earth, and they are ubiquitous; a single teaspoon of your backyard soil may harbor millions of individual organisms and upwards of 100,000 unique microbial taxa.

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