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Island Press, Washington, p. 364): «If I could do it predators and prey in order to discover new life
all over again, and relieve my vision in the twenty- ways and alien food webs. All this, and I need ven-
first century, I would be a microbial ecologist. Ten ture no farther than ten paces outside my labora-
billion bacteria live in a gram of ordinary soil, a tory building.» Un vasto universo de "vida invisi-
mere pinch held between thumb and forefinger. ble", todavía inexplorado, será observado en los
They represent thousands of species, almost none próximos años. La combinación e integración de la
of which are known to science. Into that world I ecología, de la genómica, de la proteómica y de
would go with the aid of modern microscopy and otros estudios moleculares, será la llave que abri-
molecular analysis. I would cut my way through rá las puertas del misterio. Pero, como ocurre con
clonal forests sprawled across grains of sand, tra- cada descubrimiento, esa nueva visión no hará
vel in an imagined submarine through drops of más que cohibirnos al percatarnos, aún más, de la
water proportionately the size of lakes, and track enorme hermosura y diversidad de la naturaleza.