Bacterial species singled out from a diverse crowd – Nature.com

Understanding an ecosystem requires maps of where the organisms present live and act. For example, sea otters reside on the surface of kelp beds and feed on sea urchins that consume kelp from the ocean floor. An organisms location in an ecosystem reflects its physiology and function. This is particularly true for microbes, which live in and respond to highly dynamic and diverse habitats. Micrometre-scale gradients of nutrients or pH, for instance, are a typical feature of microbial habitats that…

Click here to view the original article.