Microbiome

Marine Microbiomes

The Marine Microbiome is the sum total of microorganisms and viruses in the ocean and any related environment, including seafloor and marine flora and fauna. The still quantified and largely unknown diversity of microbial life may be a hidden treasure of human society. Marine microbes play many important roles in Earth systems: they influence our climate, are major primary producers in the oceans, govern much of the flow of energy and nutrients in the oceans, and provide us with a source of medicines and natural products. They include bacteria, viruses, archaea, protists and fungi. Marine microbes are tiny single-celled organisms that live in the oceans and make up more than 98% of the ocean's biomass.