12 interesting Facts About Microbes
- Microbes, by weight, represent 60 percent of the biomass of all life on Earth!
- Microbes outnumber all other species and make up most living matter.
- Microbes first appeared on earth about 3.5 billion years ago.
- Microbes generate at least half the oxygen we breathe.
- 1,000: number of microbial species that normally live on the surface of our skin.
- Microbes drive the chemistry of life and affect the global climate.
- A single gram of soil can contain more than a billion microbes!
- Until birth, the digestive tract is sterile by 48 hours. After birth, microbial colonization is quantitatively similar to that of the adult.
- Most microbes do not cause disease.
- 0.000004: diameter in inches of the smallest bacteria.
- Microbes comprise ~60% of the earths biomass.
- Pathogen microbes are of three types: viruses, bacteria and protozoans.
