Microbes are known to dwell in the superheated water around volcanic vents in the deep ocean, for example.
Nitrogen-fixing microbes are known to improve the growth and productivity of crops.
Microbes are known to contribute to earth surface processes through their bioerosive and bioprotective roles, as demonstrated by a number of researchers from the eighteenth century onward.
Many microbes are known to be able to degrade petroleum hydrocarbons in aquatic systems such as oceans (http://www.metamicrobe.com/petroleum-microbiology/oil-bioremediation-bacteria.html).html
Many microbes are known to produce highly structured metallic nanoparticles with very similar properties to that of chemically synthesized materials, while having precise control over size, shape and monodispersity.
However, cellulolytic microbes are known to evolve as individual degraders or as part of a "chain reaction" in microbial communities breaking down cellulose [32] in some environments such as AD processes [26].
Although other microbes are known to make individual volatile hydrocarbons common in fuels, Strobel says none can match the synthetic repertoire of G. roseum, which makes a staggering 55 volatile hydrocarbons: "No one has ever observed anything like this with any microbe before".
An ecosystem made up of microbes is known as a microbiome, and in the microbiome of an animal's stomach and intestines, the balance of "good" and "bad" bugs can be vitally important to the animal's health -- just as it is in our own bodies.
In nature, D. melanogaster live in an environment full of microorganisms, yet only a few microbes are known to be lethal to wild-type D. melanogaster larvae and/or adults, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas entomophila, Serratia marcescens and Beauveria bassiana ([7], [8], [24], [25].
Microbes are known to cause disease.
