The essential role of microbes in maintaining the living earth, which they did alone for the first half of the time since life began, did not cease or diminish with the coming of visible living organisms and life-as-we-know-it. It continues today, and it has only been recognised recently to just what extent invisible life controls the planet. In our modern world we need to acknowledge the symbiotic nature of the Biosphere, where microbes represent more than half the living matter; the interconnections between all living things and the environment; and the dangers of not taking into account the life-friendly balances.
Part One -- Earth, Air, Life and Water; Part Two -- Cycling of Material in the Biosphere; Part Three -- The Living Soil: An Organ of the Biosphere; Part Four -- Australian Ecosystems: How They Function as Units of the Symbiotic Planet; Part Five -- Looking Back, Looking Forward.