What are the “black box” of microorganisms, including the "Great Plate Anomaly" and the "Paradox of the Plankton"? Which theories exist to...

The microbial "black box" refers to the fact that researchers are unable to grow many microbes in a laboratory setting, which means they are unknown and mysterious. Two theories were developed to explain why these microorganisms resist growth in a laboratory, including the "Great Plate Anomaly" and the "Paradox of the Plankton."

The "Great Plate Anomaly" is the observation that most microbes that can be observed under a microscope cannot actually be grown in a laboratory. Even viable microorganisms grown under laboratory conditions are often not culturable, which makes experimentation impossible.

Similarly, the "Paradox of the Plankton" was termed in a 1961 paper by researcher G.E. Hutchinson. This theory refers to Hutchinson's observation that a wide variety of phytoplankton species are able to thrive while sharing very limited resources. This finding is paradoxical as it violates the exclusion principle, which states that when two species are competing for the same resource, one of them will become extinct.

The theory of spatial scaling of microbial eukaryote diversity is the most prominent potential answer to the microbial "black box." This theory holds that microbial organisms have significant local diversity and less regional diversity, which would explain why microorganisms behave differently under laboratory conditions and are able to coexist in competitive environments.