As the smallest known form of life on Earth, microbes may be discovered almost anywhere, even in the frigid, Martian-like environments of lava caverns. Geothermal caverns, lava tubes, and volcanic vents on the Hawaiian island of Hawai’i are home to a fantastic variety of unique bacteria discovered just lately by scientists.
These 65- and 800-year-old subterranean buildings were built with almost little natural light. It’s also possible that they might be hiding hazardous materials or gases. Despite this, microbial mats are often seen in Hawaiian lava caves. Taking samples from these mats in 2006–2009 and again in 2017–2019 has shown much more unusual life forms than had been anticipated. Seventy samples were sequenced for a single RNA gene, which is often used to determine the variety and abundance of microorganisms, but no findings were reliably matched to any recognized genuses or species.
In fact, after plants, microbes make up virtually all of the biomass found in the planet’s deep underground. However, scientists have traditionally paid little attention to them because of their small size and need for harsh surroundings. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in the bacteria that live deep below because their conditions are so strikingly comparable to those on Mars. However, more progress is still needed.
Some have referred to microbes as “black matter” because, according to the most recent estimations, 99.999 percent of all microbial species are yet unknown. The recent studies from Hawaii further demonstrate how rare these organisms really are. Sites varied in their degree of diversity. Microbe diversity was higher in lava tubes that were 500 to 800 years old, as compared to younger lava tubes in geothermically active areas.
Younger, more active sample sites exhibited more complicated microbial interactions, perhaps because of their reduced diversity. Microbes may need to cooperate for their own survival. Microbes may need some time to establish themselves in volcanic basalts, and as the surrounding environment changes, so too will the composition of the microbial community, according to the research. For example, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria thrive at the low temperatures found in caves.
