Scientists worldwide have joined forces to build the first-ever roadmap for conserving Earth's vast invisible majority—microbes.
Their new IUCN Specialist Group reframes conservation by elevating microbial life to the same urgency as plants and animals, emphasizing microbes' foundational role in climate stability, soil fertility, marine ecosystems, and human health. The roadmap charts new metrics, policies, and restoration tools that make unseen biodiversity visible in global conservation systems for the first time.
Global Effort to Shape Microbial Conservation
A newly published study describes how researchers collaborated to develop the first roadmap dedicated to microbial conservation, guided by Applied Microbiology International President Professor Jack Gilbert.
The paper, titled 'Safeguarding Microbial Biodiversity: Microbial Conservation Specialist Group (MCSG) within the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)', appears today (November 20) in Sustainable Microbiology, an AMI journal.
In July 2025, the IUCN officially established the MCSG within its Species Survival Commission, with Professor Gilbert and Raquel Peixoto (KAUST / ISME) serving as co-chairs. The group emerged after a May workshop led by Professor Gilbert that brought together conservation specialists and microbiologists to explore how conservation principles apply in a world shaped by microbial life.
A Paradigm Shift Toward Planetary Health
"This is the first global coalition dedicated to safeguarding microbial biodiversity, which is the 'invisible 99% of life', to ensure that microbes are recognized as essential to the planet's ecological, climate, and health systems," Professor Gilbert said.
"I think this reframes conservation from saving individual species to preserving the networks of invisible life that make visible life possible—a paradigm shift toward planetary health. It also gives us a really good look into the microbial tools that can support conservation action – so that we may use microbiology to solve the world's biggest problems."
Why Microbial Biodiversity Cannot Be Ignored
Microbes play central roles in soil fertility, carbon regulation, marine productivity, and organismal health, yet they have rarely been included in mainstream conservation efforts. Overlooking microbial diversity weakens climate resilience, food security, and the recovery of ecosystems.
Professor Gilbert explained that "The MCSG fills this gap by embedding microbiology directly into IUCN's conservation machinery, i.e. using Red List criteria, ecosystem assessments, and restoration programs, to make microbes visible in policy, not just in science."
Five Core Functions of Microbial Conservation
During the past two years, the founding group has established an international network of microbiologists, ecologists, legal experts, and Indigenous knowledge holders from more than 30 countries. Working together, they created the first microbial conservation roadmap, outlining five core components of the IUCN Species Conservation Cycle:
- Assessment – develop Red List-compatible metrics for microbial communities and biobanks.
- Planning – create ethical and economic frameworks for microbial interventions.
- Action – pilot restoration projects using microbial solutions (coral probiotics, soil carbon microbiomes, pathogen-resistant wildlife).
- Networking – connect scientists, culture collections, and Indigenous custodians worldwide.
- Communication & Policy – launch campaigns such as "Invisible but Indispensable" to engage policymakers and the public.
Funding from the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation and in kind support from AMI and ISME supports the first phase of mapping microbial hotspots, developing conservation indices, and linking existing microbial biobanks into a global archive.
Conceptual and Technical Hurdles in Protecting Microbes
Creating a conservation framework for life forms that are microscopic posed conceptual and technical hurdles, Professor Gilbert said.
These included:
- Defining what constitutes a "microbial species" in Red List terms.
- Integrating genomic and ecological data into policy tools built for plants and animals.
- Overcoming the perception that microbes are too complex or resilient to need protection.
"Microbial conservation must contend with enormous unseen diversity and highly dynamic community structures that defy classical species concepts. Taxonomic instability, lack of long-term baselines, and the ethical handling of microbial samples (including Indigenous or human-associated microbiota) all require new definitions of 'loss', 'restoration', and 'rights of microbes'," Professor Gilbert said.
"But a major landmark came when the IUCN approved the MCSG as a formal Specialist Group—officially extending global conservation to microbes for the first time."
Future Plans: Red Lists, Hotspots, and New Interventions
The group now plans to:
- Produce the first Microbial Red List framework by 2027.
- Publish global microbial hotspot maps integrating soil, marine, and host-associated ecosystems.
- Pilot conservation interventions (e.g., microbial bioremediation, coral-reef probiotics, soil carbon restoration).
- Ensure microbial indicators appear alongside plants and animals in IUCN and UN biodiversity targets by 2030
Long-term progress will require steady financial support to grow global networks that track microbial activity. It also depends on ensuring that microbes are included in national biodiversity and climate initiatives, including "30 by 30" and One Health policies. Another key need is greater public understanding of microbial roles, with "public microbial literacy—recognizing microbes as the foundation of ecosystem and human health." In addition, researchers highlight the importance of using digital-twin and AI technologies to anticipate how microbial communities will react to environmental change.
Reference: "Safeguarding microbial biodiversity: microbial conservation specialist group within the species survival commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature" by Jack A Gilbert, Amber Hartman Scholz, Maria Gloria Dominguez Bello, Lise Korsten, Gabriele Berg, Brajesh K Singh, Antje Boetius, Fengping Wang, Chris Greening, Kelly Wrighton, Seth R Bordenstein, Janet Jansson, Jay T Lennon, Valeria Souza, Sarah M Allard, Torsten Thomas, Don Cowan, Thomas W Crowther, Nguyen Nguyen, Lucy Harper, Louis-Patrick Haraoui, Suzanne L Ishaq, Margaret McFall-Ngai, Kent H Redford and Raquel Peixoto, 20 November 2025, Sustainable Microbiology.
DOI: 10.1093/sumbio/qvaf024
News
Researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection
Russian authorities have imposed "anti-epidemic measures" after a laboratory worker at an institute in Siberia dedicated to studying the plague and other infectious diseases died of a mysterious illness. The researcher, a 28-year-old female [...]
GHCE Concept
From the preface of the book Global Health Care Equivalency in the Age of Nanotechnology, Nanomedicine and Artificial Intelligence, Edited by Frank Boehm: Since the publication of my first book (Nanomedical Device and Systems [...]
A Surprising Brain Signal Could Explain Why Eating Less Protein Extends Lifespan
A new paper suggests that limiting protein intake triggers a coordinated response throughout the body that may help explain how protein restriction affects healthy aging. Animals respond to protein restriction, or reduced protein in [...]
Back and shoulder surgery is often worse than useless
Millions of operations should be scrapped SIX IN TEN Britons have surgery at some point. So do lots of Americans, at a cost of perhaps $500bn a year, a third of all spending on [...]
Cocaine plays with mind, hijacks brain circuit, drives increasingly rigid and repetitive behavior
Researchers have found that cocaine hijacks brain circuit, which to drive increasingly rigid and repetitive behavior. The brain circuit that normally participates in selecting natural mouth and face movements, but which becomes disproportionately engaged [...]
Injectable nanodevices could provide effective treatment for drug-resistant glioblastoma
The brain cancer glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant cancers known to medicine, carrying a median survival of just 12-15 months, even with the best available care. Now, researchers at the [...]
New Treatment Cuts “Bad” Cholesterol in Half for a Full Year
A single infusion of an experimental CRISPR-Cas9 therapy was reported to safely lower LDL cholesterol by 52.5% and triglycerides by 47.8%, as measured 12 months after treatment. What if one infusion could keep cholesterol [...]
Too Much RNA Can Drain a Cell’s Energy, Scientists Discover
A virus may cripple a cell’s power supply simply by producing too much of a molecule the cell needs to survive. New research from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences [...]
West African scientists warn of weakening health systems and urge stronger outbreak detection
LOME, Togo (AP) — West African laboratory scientists called on governments Friday to strengthen capacity to detect disease outbreaks to avoid another major outbreak, saying health systems across the region are becoming weaker. Participants [...]
A Little-Known Protein Could Point to a New Way To Treat Alzheimer’s
A study suggests that increasing SORLA protein levels could help treat Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders involving tau protein. Increasing SORLA, a protein with a protective role in the brain, helped mice withstand damage [...]
Cancer’s Hidden Antioxidant Shield Helps It Escape the Immune System
Blocking an antioxidant protein that tumors use to suppress immune attacks improved cancer immunotherapy responses in mice. Cancer cells can release antioxidants that interfere with the immune cells trying to kill them. Researchers have [...]
Scientists Find a Berry Compound That Helps Muscle Cells Burn Fat
Pterostilbene, a compound found naturally in some foods, affects how skeletal muscles process fats by stabilizing a protein called PPARδ and increasing its signaling activity. Pterostilbene, a natural compound found in blueberries, grapes, and [...]
Two Hidden Forces Help Build the Human Brain Before Birth
Scientists have uncovered two surprising forces that help guide how the human brain forms before birth. Before birth, the human brain is shaped in large part by an unusual class of stem cells known [...]
Researchers Uncover a Hidden Trigger Behind Chronic Inflammation
The findings offer new insights that could help guide the development of future therapies. A protein called human resistin may help flip on one of the immune system’s most powerful inflammatory switches. Researchers at [...]
Scientists Have Uncovered Previously Hidden Microbial Activity on Human Skin
The most abundant microbes on your skin may not be the ones doing most of the work. Human skin supports vast communities of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that can influence its protective barrier, immune [...]
Brazilian Tree Compounds Fight COVID-19 on Multiple Fronts
Scientists found compounds in a Brazilian tree that hit SARS-CoV-2 on multiple fronts, revealing a promising new lead in the search for COVID-19 treatments. Researchers have found that galloylquinic acids extracted from the leaves [...]
