Plants
Microbes make the plant world possible–they are industrious recyclers, ancient traders, and talented architects. Sometimes collaborative, sometimes cutthroat, microorganisms have a complex but crucial relationship with plant life.
Beneath Our Feet
Soil is more than just dirt–it’s alive and teeming. One single teaspoon of soil can yield up to one billion bacteria, tens of meters of fungi filaments, and thousands of other microorganisms. Just a few meters deep, Earth’s soil layer holds microbial communities more diverse than all the tropical rainforests combined.
Plant Partners
A single plant can harbor an ecosystem all of its own. From the surface of leaves to the tips of roots to even the interior of plant cells, thousands of types of microbes call plants home. Some microorganisms are peaceful residents, and some are a little more bothersome, causing disease within plants. Still others actively help plants defend against disease, resist drought, or promote growth. Whether friend or foe, microbes greatly influence the health of plants.
Hidden Forest
If a single plant hosts thousands of types of microorganisms, imagine the microbial diversity a forest harbors. From the visible–color lichen specimens–to the hidden–vast underground webs of fungi–the forest ecosystem offers many examples of microbes as builders, networkers, and architects.
