**11. Conclusions & perspectives**

Zinger et al. state (see Pg. 2 of Ref. [4]): "In its broadest meaning, measuring biodiversity consists of characterizing the number, composition and variation in taxonomic or functional units over a wide range of biological organizations (from genes to communities)". The taxonomical classification of microorganisms has been difficult due to their small size, short generation times and confounded by genetic exchange between unrelated organisms. These limitations have been largely overcome by modern developments of sequencing technologies and the recognition of rDNA sequences as a cornerstone for identification purposes. Overall, it is important to recognize that microbial diversity is intricately linked to its environment and this correlation has to be established by description of environmental parameters whenever sampling is carried out. It is also important to study the phenotypic characteristics and link them to the observations obtained from genotyping techniques. The link between habitat and diversity then becomes easier to understand for future studies.
