A microbiome is more than just what is happening in our gut, it’s all part of a bigger connection.
To understand this connection, let’s look at microbiomes in our world’s ecosystems. Like humans, corals and reefs rely on a microbial connection to thrive, they too have a symbiotic relationship with the host and microbes that keep corals healthy.
This connection is helping us to restore one of the world's largest ecosystems the Great Barrier Reef. Just like we need a community of good bacteria to help keep us healthy, so too do coral. A balanced microbiome keeps us, and corals, resilient, but can be disrupted in times of stress. Probiotics for humans commonly complement healthy and balanced diet and lifestyle choices to support our health and wellbeing in everyday life, but understanding the coral microbiome and the influence of probiotics is its infancy. Projects like the Life-Space Reef Probiotics Project are critical to help us understand more, so that we can restore resilient and healthy coral reefs using probiotics.
Credit: AIMS
Credit: Great Barrier Reef Foundation
Credit: Great Barrier Reef Foundation