Australian Microbiome Initiative
Large red boulders sitting on red earth with small burnt gum trees surrounding them.
The project will create a database of microbial diversity across a geographically expansive and diverse range of Australian terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Credit: Geoff Whalan, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Australian Microbiome is a collaborative project to characterise the diversity and ecosystem service provision of the microorganisms inhabiting natural Australian ecosystems. An aim of the initiative is to develop a comprehensive, publicly-accessible database of microbial diversity across a geographically expansive and diverse range of Australian terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
Understanding the function of microbes in the environment will provide fundamental information for management and monitoring of ecosystems.
Australian Microbiome builds on two previous projects, BASE and Marine Microbes. These projects began mapping Australia’s microbial biodiversity, discovering which microbes live where, by sequencing microbial DNA in soil and sea water samples. Read Australia’s microbiome on the map for further insights.
Lead: Dr Andrew Bissett