New Species Survival Commission Fills Critical Gap in Conservation

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• Lauren Fimbres Wood- [email protected]

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A newly-formed group of scientists will be fighting for the survival of species - the smallest ones on the planet.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has launched a species survival commission for microbiology and microbes to serve as a global safeguard for microbial biodiversity and to pursue coordinated conservation action. The new Microbial Conservation Specialist Group was formally announced in a new paperpublished Sept. 12 in Nature Microbiology,marking a first in the history of international conservation and filling a critical gap in microbial conservation.

The new commission, led by microbiologists Jack Gilbert from the University of California San Diego and Raquel Peixoto of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, will look at ecological disruption and the potential extinction of specific strains of microbes, the microscopic organisms such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses that areessential to planetary and human health.

This could include preservation of the photosynthetic microorganisms that created the rock-like stromatolite structures in Sharks Bay, Australia, or the rock-inhabiting cryoendolithic fungal communities found in Antarctica that survive under some of the most extreme conditions on Earth, and bacteria that are part of the complex microbiome of coral reefs. The commission will also examine certain species in humans that are going extinct as a result of industrial lifestyles.

"Microbial life is essential for human and planetary health yet it has been largely absent from global conservation efforts," said Gilbert, who is jointly appointed at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics. "It's been easy to overlook microbes because they are invisible. Having IUCN elevate microbes in this way will ensure that critical microbes are assessed and protected from extinction."

Photosynthetic microorganisms formed these rock-like stromatolite structures in Australia. Image via iStockPhoto.

IUCN is the world's leading authority in environmental science and policy, recognized for shaping conservation priorities across governments, non-governmental organizations and international treaties. The commission will bring together ecologists, traditional knowledge experts and conservation leaders to develop and advocate for conservation tools, strategies and policies that integrate microbiology into global biodiversity governance.

The group aims to map conservation priorities for microbial ecosystems currently threatened by habitat destruction and human activities. They will also develop a microorganism specific Red List, a globally-recognized system to classify species at high risk of extinction.

Additionally, the commission will develop frameworks to guide the use of microbes that can augment existing conservation efforts, an increasing area of scientific innovation. This includes efforts underway to use microbial probiotics to strengthen coral reefs or to improve the resilience of crops and rescue soil microbial diversity, or to improve other ecosystems and help conserve charismatic megafauna.

The Microbial Conservation Specialist Group is currently supported by funding from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation with administrative and financial support from the International Society for Microbial Ecology, the American Society for Microbiology and Applied Microbiology International.

Learn more about research and education at UC San Diego in: Climate Change

"Microbial life is essential for human and planetary health yet it has been largely absent from global conservation efforts. It's been easy to overlook microbes because they are invisible. Having IUCN elevate microbes in this way will ensure that critical microbes are assessed and protected from extinction." Jack Gilbert, microbiologist who is jointly appointed at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the School of Medicine's Department of Pediatrics