The Invisible Web of Life on the Great Barrier Reef A recent comprehensive survey of the microscopic life living in the open waters of Australia's Great Barrier Reef has revealed hundreds of new bacterial species and hundreds of thousands of viruses.
This discovery is staggering, but it also raises fundamental questions about our understanding of marine ecosystems and the interconnectedness of life on Earth.
The study, led by the University of Queensland and the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), analyzed DNA collected from seawater samples taken at 48 reefs across the Great Barrier Reef system.