The Red & White

While the world has focused on saving the turtles, there is another group of species struggling with survival. Recently, conservation biologists have joined together to save these often overlooked species. Microbes are a group of species of Fungi that often have entire ecosystems depending on their survival. This led to a group called the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, establishing a specific branch of its union to focus on this issue.

The IUCN was created in 1948, and since then has grown to become the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network. Focusing on a vast array of environmental issues, they have reached 160 countries and now have more than 17,000 scientists connected to the Union, and over 1,400 member organizations.  As of this year, a new group connected to the IUCN has joined the mission to save the quickly disappearing microorganisms across the globe. This group is known as the SSC Microbial Conservation Specialist Group and has begun to tackle all aspects connected to the survival of the Microorganism species. The group maps out common microbe locations, and after collecting samples, preserves them in vaults to protect them from complete extinction. A longer, more complex strategy to prevent extinction that the group is using is preserving the ecosystems where the endangered microbes live. “The way forward is to preserve the ecosystem so you can preserve the microorganisms, and the microorganisms can in turn improve the ecosystem in a positive loop,” says Raquel Peixoto, the co-chair of the group and a microbiologist at King Abdullah University of Science in Saudi Arabia. This cycle is one that can be extremely beneficial around the world, in various environments. One example is coral reefs. 

A coral reef is a complex environment where all organisms that call it home are strongly interdependent on each other. This makes it a perfect environment for the SSC’s project. By conserving coral reefs, the local communities benefit because reefs often break ocean waves, protecting the coastline. Reefs also become giant fish nurseries; their many nooks and shelters provide the perfect environment for developing sea life. Reefs make the perfect environment to focus on because they have a symbiotic relationship with the microbes that live inside them, called a coral holobiont. Some of the microbes inside the coral act similarly to the gut bacteria in humans’ stomachs, aiding in breaking down nutrients and nutrient absorption. The microbes also protect coral by fighting off harmful pathogens. What makes protecting the environments of microorganisms important is that in unhealthy environments, both the microbes and their hosts are negatively affected.  Rising ocean temperatures, as well as fertilizer or sewer runoff into the ocean can disrupt the fragile balance in the coral holobionts. As the environments become more unhealthy, the holobionts become unbalanced, and as a result, corals have less UV protection, a lower density of microalgae,  less pathogen defense, and unbalanced nutrition. By saving and preserving the environments where microbes live, we in turn save them, and the more microbes are saved, the more they can do for the environment. As the New York Times puts it, “Save the Whales. But save the microbes, too,” because those microbes can help save the world.