For most of Earth's history life was microbial, with archaeal and bacterial cells mediating biogeochemical cycles through their metabolisms and ecologies. This diversity was sufficient to maintain a habitable planet across dramatic environmental transitions during the Archean and Proterozoic Eons. However, our knowledge of the first 3 billion years of the biosphere pales in comparison to the rich narrative of complex life documented through the Phanerozoic geological record. In this review, we attempt to lay out a microbial natural history framework that highlights recent and ongoing research unifying microbiology, geochemistry, and traditional organismal evolutionary biology, and we propose six broadly applicable principles to aid in these endeavors. In this way, the evolutionary history of microbial life—once considered only a prelude to the much more storied history of complex metazoan life in the Phanerozoic—is finally coming into its own. ▪The outlines of microbial natural history are now starting to appear through the integration of genomic and geological records.▪Microorganisms drive Earth's biogeochemical cycles, and their natural history reflects a coevolution with the planet.▪Past environmental changes have induced microbial biotic transitions, marked by extinction, taxonomic shifts, and new metabolisms and ecologies.▪Microbial evolution can benefit from a historical perspective of processes and successions as established by macropaleontology.

中文翻译：

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迈向微生物生命的自然史


在地球历史的大部分时间里，生命都是微生物的，古细菌细胞和细菌细胞通过其新陈代谢和生态来介导生物地球化学循环。这种多样性足以在太古宙和元古代的剧烈环境转变中维持一个宜居的星球。然而，与显生代地质记录记录的复杂生命的丰富叙述相比，我们对生物圈前 30 亿年的了解相形见绌。在这篇综述中，我们试图建立一个微生物自然历史框架，突出了最近和正在进行的统一微生物学、地球化学和传统生物进化生物学的研究，并提出了六个广泛适用的原则来帮助这些努力。通过这种方式，微生物生命的进化历史——曾经被认为只是显生代复杂后生动物生命更传奇历史的前奏——终于有了自己的存在。▪通过基因组和地质记录的整合，微生物自然历史的轮廓现在开始显现。▪微生物驱动地球的生物地球化学循环，它们的自然历史反映了与地球的共同进化。▪过去的环境变化诱导了微生物生物的转变，以灭绝、分类学变化以及新的新陈代谢和生态学为标志。▪微生物进化可以从过程和演替的历史角度中受益，如宏观古生物学。