◆A research paper by a group led by Lecturer Goichiro Uramoto of the Center for Integrated Marine Core Research has been published in the online edition of *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America*
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Microbial diversity in seafloor sediments rivals that found in the ocean and soil!
~The world’s first global-scale survey~
Overview
A research paper by a group led by Lecturer Goichiro Uramoto of the Center for Integrated Marine Core Research was published in the online edition of *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America* on October 20, 2020.
This study reveals that, despite the seafloor sediment environment being a harsh habitat with limited energy supplies necessary for sustaining life, the diversity of microorganisms inhabiting it is comparable to that found in Earth’s surface environments—such as soil and the ocean—where energy supplies are abundant. It also demonstrates that, across all microbial communities on Earth, bacteria (true bacteria) are overwhelmingly more diverse than archaea (archaebacteria).
These research findings provide crucial scientific insights for understanding the diversity and spatial distribution of microbial species across the globe, their survival strategies and evolutionary processes, and the relationship between microbial ecosystems and the global environment.