Science Friday

Can A Microbe Conservation Movement Take Off?

December 2, 2025

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  • Microbial conservation is being championed as a necessary global movement, potentially more ambitious than saving rainforests or oceans, because microbes drive planetary climate action and represent the largest biomass on Earth. 
  • The loss of microbial species is currently not tracked via a red list strategy, but evidence of decline is inferred through the extinction of host species (like animals) and environmental changes affecting critical groups like ocean phototrophs or human gut symbionts such as *Bifidobacterium longum infantis*. 
  • Microbe conservation requires strategies beyond traditional macrobe protection, including establishing 'microbiota vaults' for preservation and actively conserving environments like desert soil crusts, while also addressing the human-centric bias that often overlooks their importance. 

Segments

Introduction to Microbe Conservation
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(00:01:01)
  • Key Takeaway: A global conservation movement targeting invisible microbes is being launched, aiming to be as ambitious as efforts for rainforests or oceans.
  • Summary: Scientists are initiating a conservation movement focused on microbes, which are invisible, ubiquitous, and often sanitized away. Dr. Jack Gilbert is leading this effort as co-chair of the IUCN’s Microbial Conservation Specialist Group. The goal is to give microbes protected status similar to animals and plants.
Importance of Microbes
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(00:01:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Microbes are the epicenter of planetary diversity, drive all climate action through nutrient and gas cycling, and constitute the largest biomass on Earth.
  • Summary: Microbes have existed for 4 billion years and are fundamental drivers of planetary processes, including climate regulation. They outweigh all visible life forms, justifying their inclusion in conservation strategies. Conserving microbes can also improve conservation strategies for macrofauna and plants.
Tracking Microbial Loss
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(00:03:10)
  • Key Takeaway: There is no current red list strategy for tracking the loss of most microbial species (bacteria, archaea, viruses), necessitating tracking by proxy.
  • Summary: Tracking microbial species loss is extremely difficult due to the estimated 100 billion species involved. Loss is inferred when host species go extinct, or when environmental changes cause critical species, like oxygen-producing ocean phototrophs, to disappear. The decline of Bifidobacterium longum infantis in human infants is cited as a major threat to human health.
Threats and Ecosystem Role
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(00:06:12)
  • Key Takeaway: Threats to microbes mirror those for macrobes (deforestation, pollution, climate change), and eradicating them severely impedes ecosystem restoration, such as rehabilitating mangrove soils.
  • Summary: Practices damaging the natural environment also harm microbial communities. Restoring ecosystems like mangrove swamps requires first rehabilitating the soils by reintroducing necessary bacteria. Microbes are essential for ecosystem function, meaning their loss hinders recovery efforts for visible life.
Differentiating Microbe Conservation
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(00:07:06)
  • Key Takeaway: Microbe conservation requires specific strategies like establishing microbiota vaults, as traditional macrobe protection methods are insufficient for invisible, rapidly evolving life.
  • Summary: Integrating microbiology into conservation might have advanced preservation efforts sooner. Strategies include creating frozen banks, mirroring seed banks, exemplified by the establishment of a microbiota vault. Another strategy involves protecting specific microbially-dependent environments, such as desert soil crusts, which prevent dust storms.
Motivations and Skepticism
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(00:09:52)
  • Key Takeaway: Skeptics argue microbes do not need conservation due to rapid evolution, but proponents stress conservation is driven by human-perceived importance, ecosystem services, and ‘microbiophilia.’
  • Summary: Some colleagues, even microbiologists, question the need for conservation because microbes evolve quickly and have survived past extinction events. Conservation success relies on demonstrating importance to humanity, whether through ecosystem services (like oxygen production) or tangible benefits (like soil fertility). This requires fostering ‘microbiophilia,’ or love for microbes.