EARTH’S UNCHARTED MICROBES

1 TRILLION

Number of different species on Earth, calculated by Indiana University biologists Kenneth Locey and Jay Lennon in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The vast majority are microbes – bacteria, archaea and fungi.

10 MILLION

Microbial species catalogued so far by the Earth Microbiome Project.

99.999%

Proportion of species still undiscovered.