- "Microbial ecology (or environmental microbiology) is the ecology of microorganisms: their relationship with one another and with their environment."
It is the study of microorganisms and their interactions with the environment.
- "It concerns the three major domains of life—Eukaryota, Archaea, and Bacteria—as well as viruses."
- "Microorganisms, by their omnipresence, impact the entire biosphere."
- "Microbial life plays a primary role in regulating biogeochemical systems in virtually all of our planet's environments, including some of the most extreme..."
- "Calculated as 5.0×1030 cells; eight orders of magnitude greater than the number of stars in the observable universe."
- "Microbes, by virtue of their biomass alone, constitute a significant carbon sink."
- "Microorganisms' key collective metabolic processes (including nitrogen fixation, methane metabolism, and sulfur metabolism) control global biogeochemical cycling."
- "Some of the most familiar, such as the human small intestine, nose, and mouth."
- "The immensity of microorganisms' production is such that, even in the total absence of eukaryotic life, these processes would likely continue unchanged."
- "Some of the most extreme, from frozen environments..."
- "Some of the most extreme, from... acidic lakes..."
- "...to hydrothermal vents at the bottom of deepest oceans..."
- "Calculated as 5.0×1030 cells..."
- "...eight orders of magnitude greater than the number of stars in the observable universe."
- "Microorganisms' key collective metabolic processes (including nitrogen fixation, methane metabolism, and sulfur metabolism) control global biogeochemical cycling."
- "Even in the total absence of eukaryotic life, these processes would likely continue unchanged."
- "...the human small intestine, nose, and mouth."
- "Microbes, by virtue of their biomass alone, constitute a significant carbon sink."
- "...from frozen environments and acidic lakes, to hydrothermal vents at the bottom of deepest oceans..."
- "Even in the total absence of eukaryotic life, these processes would likely continue unchanged."