From Tropics to Poles: Study Reveals Diversity of Life in Soils

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=121998&org=NSF&from=news

Press Release 11-221

From Tropics to Poles: Study Reveals Diversity of Life in Soils

New species discovered across the globe

October 17, 2011

…

Microscopic animals that live in soils are as diverse in the tropical forests of Costa Rica as they are in the arid grasslands of Kenya, or the tundra and boreal forests of Alaska and Sweden.

That conclusion is found in research results published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

…

"Scientist E.O. Wilson noted that the key to understanding Earth's biodiversity lies in exploration of its smallest life forms," said Matt Kane, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.

"Important affirmation of this idea is provided in this global study of animals, in which the significance of belowground biodiversity is revealed."

…

http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1103824108

[kestrel91316]

1. My employer for 3 years when I was an undergraduate (AND my academic adviser)

was a professor of microbiology whose expertise was in soil microbiology. I got to see first hand on a nearly daily basis just how diverse the bacteria and fungi in soils are. And then of course there are the microscopic and macroscopic higher forms, multicellular creatures that we had no interest in. I got familiar with those when I got a microscope for Christmas in junior high and would spend hours poring over soil and dust samples.

Carl Sagan's words come to mind: "Billions and billions......"

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. In his original Gaia book, "Gaia, a New look at Life on Earth," Lovelock described the tremendous…

…significance of microscopic life in the biosphere.

He pointed out what a tiny fraction of life on the planet was represented by the higher-order plants and animals that we tend to regard as “life.”

I found it to be a revelation.