DESPITE making up about half, by weight, of the living things on Earth, bacteria get short shrift in the biodiversity stakes compared with whales, elephants and rain-forest trees.

• 尽管以重量计算，细菌占了地球上生物总量的二分之一，但与鲸鱼，大象，雨林树木相比，在对生物多样性的功劳上，细菌仍然受到冷落。