Organized microbial guilds keep Earth's underground biosphere running, research reveals

By studying life deep inside a former gold mine, a Northwestern University-led team of scientists has uncovered evidence that Earth's hidden biosphere operates less like a random collection of microbes and more like an organized workforce. In one of the most comprehensive long-term studies of deep underground microbial life to date, the researchers tracked how microbial communities shifted across six sites over four years. From site to site, the ecosystems were incredibly different from one another but largely stable through time.