99.9 Percent of Microorganisms Remain Unknown

The Earth contains over one trillion species of microorganisms, but scientists only recognize a fraction of them. According to a report by the Christian Science Monitor, a new statistical study shows that 99.999 percent of microbial species are unknown to scientists. This comprehensive research was conducted by two microbiologists at Indiana University in the United States. Jay Lennon, one of the authors of this paper and a professor of microbiology at Indiana University, states, 'Our work on cataloging the microbes we know has been quite good. We may hear every few years about a new species of worm discovered at the bottom of the ocean. However, the rate of discovering living species (both plant and animal) has slowed down.' According to this microbiologist, it has only been in the last three decades that scientists have begun to identify and classify microorganisms. 'We are still in the discovery phase. Before this research, it was hard to say where we stood. Microorganisms have the highest number of vital species on Earth. Therefore, scientifically, we do not recognize a large group (of living beings).' Microorganisms are everywhere. For example, Dr. Lennon says there are nearly ten thousand different types of bacteria in one square centimeter of human skin. Although this fact is not pleasant for many, human life (and almost all living beings) depends on the existence of these bacteria. These microorganisms play a vital role on Earth. To create such a vast data source, scientists at Indiana University collected records related to microbes, plants, and animals from government, academic, and independent research sources. This data source encompasses nearly 5.6 million vital species (microbial and non-microbial) from over 35,000 locations on Earth. What has astonished scientists is not the diversity and amount of what is known, but the extent of the unknowns in the realm of microbial life and its various species. They say this research shows how there should be a greater emphasis on accelerating the process of discovering and documenting these vital species and then making more efforts to better understand their role in the vital cycle of the Earth.