© Ed DeLongMegamind: Despite the amazing diversity of marine microbes, a new research paper shows that many different groups work together to react in unison to their surroundings.
Vastly different species of sea microbes work together to respond as one to their surroundings as if they have one 'megamind', new research has revealed.
U.S. researchers have discovered communities of infinitesimal creatures in our oceans react in unison to changes in their environment.
The links between them are not well understood, but findings suggest the creatures rely on each other to almost the same extent as the different cells in a human body.
As an example, if one set of the microbes were, say, creating energy through photosynthesis, which would then produce carbon dioxide, another set of microbes would somehow know and react - perhaps preparing to absorb the carbon dioxide.
The open sea contains an amazing diversity of extremely tiny organisms called picoplankton, which include relatively simple life forms such as marine bacteria, as well as more complicated organisms.
Microbiologists who study wild marine microbes, as opposed to the lab-grown variety, face enormous challenges in getting a clear picture of the daily activities of their subjects.
To take a look at these creatures in their natural habitat, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute used a new method for collecting marine microbes.
