@seed: Perspective shift: Despite being, well, microscopic, microbes outweigh humans. By a lot. (And as you just learned, it’s not just microbes, for that matter.) Scientists broke down the composition of all life on Earth in gigatons (that’s one billion metric tons) of carbon.¹ (If you’re wondering, “why carbon?”, great question. Carbon is an essential part of every living organism, so the mass of organisms is typically measured in terms of their carbon makeup.) They found that humans account for a meager 0.01% of the planet’s whole biomass (the total quantity or weight of organisms in a given area). We’re outweighed by plants (which account for 82.4% of the world’s biomass), bacteria (12.8%), fungi (2.2%), animals (0.47%), and even viruses (0.04%).² Consider this a humbling reminder that of the 8.7 million species that live on our pale blue dot, we are superseded by all, including microbes. 🌏 Drop a 🤯 in the comments if this blew your mind. • ¹ Bar-On, Y. M., & Phillips, R. (2018). The biomass distribution on Earth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(25), 6506–6511. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711842115 ² Ghosh, I. (2022, August 8). All the Biomass of Earth, in One Graphic. Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/all-the-biomass-of-earth-in-one-graphic/

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Monday 18 December 2023 21:45:54 GMT