Have you ever thought of the ground as a sort of "black box" from which we can draw a lot of useful information? Some scientists have decided to analyze it by paying particular attention to the role of microbes on which life on our planet depends.
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Have you ever thought about the Plot as a sort of "black box" from which we can draw a lot of useful information? Some scientists have decided to analyze it paying particular attention to the role of microbes on which life on our planet depends.
Soil microorganisms play a vital role in food growth and sustaining the planet but, despite this, not many scientists have given them due attention to date. Most of the microbes present in the earth have not yet been identified but it would be important to know them better as a single spoonful of soil contains billions of them and our survival seems to depend on them.
These microscopic microorganisms, in fact, create fertile soils, help plants to grow, consume and release carbon dioxide, oxygen and other vital elements.
Noah Fierer, a researcher at the University of Colorado, is taking an interest in the subject, who wants to give these bodies the place and attention they deserve given the key role they play and the tasks they perform in our favor directly or indirectly.
However, there are difficulties to be faced. These microorganisms are extremely difficult to study, not least because most grow in dirt. Fierer and other scientists have, however, devised new ways to analyze them: they collect soil samples and extract all the DNA contained in that sample, thus managing to obtain information on all the organisms that live in that tract of soil. They focus in particular on looking at a portion of DNA that is common to all living organisms and then make a catalog of the different versions found in that portion. They can then estimate how many different types of microbes live in that sample and also how common each type of microorganism is.
There is a large consortium of scientists, called the Earth Microbiome Project, which uses this approach to study soil microbes. Fierer is obviously part of it, and he, along with his research team, found that while there may be millions of microbes in the soil, there is a relatively small group that seems to dominate.
Fierer has compiled a list of 500 bacteria that represent almost half of all microorganisms present in the soil and is convinced that, to better understand the ecosystem of the soil, we must start by focusing on these dominant species. He calls it the "most wanted list" but it is also a list of question marks as most of the microorganisms have never been classified and therefore they are unnamed species.
These soil microbes, whether common or rare, could also be the source of important new discoveries. In short, a "black box" that could really give us a lot of interesting information.
On the soil and its inhabitants also read:
- Soil: 6 reasons to love and protect the soil we tread (and devour)
- Climate change: why earthworms will save the planet
Fierer's report was published in Science magazine.
