Microbial Ecology

A topic within Microbiology, itself one of 11 topics in that field and part of Biology.

Reading on Microbial Ecology

2 works

Paper1998

Prokaryotes: The Unseen Majority

William B. Whitman, David C. Coleman & William J. Wiebe

Estimates that prokaryotes outnumber all other life combined by an order of magnitude, and hold as much carbon as all plants -- a reframing of where the planet's biomass actually is.

link checked 17 Sept 2026

Biology · Microbiology

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Paper2008

The Microbial Engines That Drive Earth's Biogeochemical Cycles

Paul G. Falkowski, Tom Fenchel & Edward F. DeLong

Argues microbial metabolism, not plants or animals, actually runs Earth's carbon, nitrogen and sulphur cycles, and has done so for most of the planet's history.