Every time you walk on the ground you step on billions of microbes. Microbes live in the soil, on rocks, inside roots, buried under miles of Earth, in compost piles and toxic waste, and all over the Earth's surface. Microbes are found in boiling hot springs and on frozen snowfields.
Microbes live in homes, in schools and on statues.
Millions and Billions of Microbes Many millions of moving microbes make a mighty living munching manure in the soil. Each gram of soil may contain up to 1,000,000,000 or more microbes. Rich Biodiversity Not only are their many microbes in soil, there are many, many different species of microbes in soil. That's more biodiversity in one gram of soil than all the different types of mammals in the entire world. This section of the zoo includes many microbial habitats in addition to those found strictly in soil.