The basic pattern of life is a network. Whenever you see life, you see networks. The whole planet, what we can term ‘Gaia’ is a network of processes involving feedback tubes. And the world of bacteria is critical to the details of these feedback processes, because bacteria play a crucial role in the regulation of the whole Gaian system. 

~ Fritjof Capra

Torres del Paine, Patagonia, Chile – photo by allen.g, bigstockphoto.com