![]() ![]() We’re living in an “English drizzle of microbes,” Kent Redford, a consulting conservationist in Maine who previously held a top post at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told me. Hundreds of millions of viruses and tens of millions of bacteria that float through the air are deposited on every square meter of Earth every day. Earth has something like a trillion species of bacteria, fungi, archaea, and protozoa-the families of life grouped under the general heading of “microbes.” The sea is a soup of microbes, the soil a wonderland of imperceptible life even the air is alive. ![]() But conservationists seldom put bacteria on a tote bag, even though most life is microscopic. The field has focused on obscure desert pupfish, insects, and modest little herbaceous plants. Sign up for The Weekly Planet, The Atlantic’ s newsletter about living through climate change, here.Ĭonservationists pride themselves on protecting all of Earth’s life, not just the flashy panda bears and tigers. ![]()
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