Planet Earth hosts a prodigious amount of variety of living organisms – perhaps many millions of species. Much of this life, which thrives in the soil, the air, and water, is too small for the naked eye to see. For example, just one gram (0.04 ounces) of soil has been found to host 10,000 species of bacteria, not to mention the total number of microbes! Some species have been found up to two miles underground.
The atmosphere too is packed with life – and this does not mean just birds, bats and insects. Depending on the time of year, it is also filled with pollen and other sports, as well as seeds and in certain areas, thousands of different kinds of microbes. “This puts the diversity of microbes in the air on par with the diversity of microbes in the soil.” Says Scientific American Magazine.
Earth: The Living Planet
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 11:14 MST -07:00- No trackbacks yet.
#1 by Turtle at May 15th, 2009
Is this why we all have allergies these days? I remember when Phoenix used to be the place to go to get away from it all now there is more stuff in the air there than anywhere because everybody brought there favorite flowers with them.