Hmmm, goes to show that we know very little about our ocean. Very probable that life evolves from the sea judging from these numbers as well as the vast oceans on Earth.
Thousands of microbes in one gulp
By Louisa Cheung
One litre of seawater can contain more than 20,000 different types of bacteria, scientists have found.
The extraordinary number has been established by an international project attempting to catalogue all ocean life.
It suggests microbial biodiversity is much greater than previously thought, say Mitchell Sogin and colleagues.
Their research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is part of the Census of Marine Life (CoML).
It was undertaken using a new technique that allows for the rapid identification of distinct organisms by probing just small snippets of DNA.
“Microbes constitute the vast majority of marine biomass and are the primary engines of the Earth’s biosphere,” said Dr Sogin, from the Marine Biological Laboratory’s (MBL) Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative and Molecular Biology and Evolution, located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, US.
6 responses so far ↓
funkygirl012003 // Apr 6, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Well, that makes sense to me. Afterall the sea is where life came from, plus I’ve heard that the ocean contains traces of every element known to man. That’s plenty of nutrient material for life to thrive on.
Heck, all that nutrient material would make for a pretty nice supplement to place on the market.
lenir laorsim conscenta // Nov 3, 2008 at 12:47 am
lenir laorism conscenta says YES to evolution
skeptic // Feb 17, 2009 at 10:39 am
Evolution…please don’t make me laugh! …microevolution perhaps…but macroevolution is pretty much a joke that everyone has bought into…it goes hand in hand with the Big Bang Theory (which if it were true would mean that all the planets should be spinning the same way yeat not all are)…just don’t believe everything you read…just because you read something in a textbook doesn’t mean its true…
skeptic // Feb 17, 2009 at 10:45 am
You guys should check out the following video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5585125669588896670&q=unlocking+the+mystery+of+life
It’s very interesting indeed…
Monado // Feb 19, 2009 at 9:18 pm
So, Skeptic, you’re telling me that erosion can wear away rivulets in a field but not streambeds? Or streambeds but not river valleys? And snow can make snowdrifts but not avalanches nor glaciers? And water can make puddles but not lakes? Who stops them? Let’s hear your reasoning.
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