The abundance of unseen life (Dillard)
January 1st, 2007 | Published in Animals, Ecology, Health, Nature, Quotes
In the top inch of forest soil, biologists found “an average of 1,35 living creatures present in each square foot, including 865 mites, 265 springtails, 22 millipedes, 19 adult beetles and various numbers of 12 other forms…. Had an estimate also been made of the microscopic population, it might have ranged up to two billion bacteria and many millions of fungi, protozoa, and algae—in a mere teaspoonful of soil.”
–Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (1974), p. 94