Marine & Freshwater Microbial Biodiversity
Microbes matter. We associate them mostly with disease, and ignore the unseen but vital role that bacteria, viruses and single-celled plants and animals play in providing a habitable planet.
They control atmospheric composition and climate, soil fertility, and the global cycling of elements between land, rivers and ocean.
They have been doing this for over 3,500 million years.
The study of microbes is difficult because many look much the same, even with the best microscopes. Since there are many millions in a teaspoon of seawater, we still cannot answer basic questions such as: how many different kinds are there? what are they all doing? what controls their numbers and activities?
The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is helping to find the answers through its Marine and Freshwater Microbial Biodiversity programme (M&FMB).
Our findings have a practical purpose as well as a scientific one. Microbes synthesise many thousands of compounds with biotechnological potential, yet we currently know and exploit a very small fraction of them.