How are there microorganisms on every surface imaginable on Earth? How did they get there in the first place?
In: Biology
Well.. First things first:
There is ofcourse not every microorganism on every surface as they are indeed specialized and sometimes they compete for the same resources and sometimes they don’t.
But a lot of the microorganisms are adaptive and allow for various living conditions.
So now, Microorganisms exist for a very long time. And a lot of them are motile (meaning they can move on their own). They are small so the distance they travel is small too but over time they will spread. Additionally whenever a creature picks some microorganisms up, say through digging through the ground, they will also “drop” some at the next location and if the living conditions are suitable the microorganisms will start to spread there too.
There is also a possibility for bacteria to form spores where they encapsule themselves to be protected from the environment and when the conditions are better they can revert to their “living” status (can last 10+y).
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