About Pondlife
All free-living life forms are made of cells. We are made up of many, many cells, as are the plants and animals that we can see around us every day.
The majority of life forms on our planet are microscopic and unicellular – meaning the entire organism consists of only one cell, and is too small to be seen with the naked eye. Unicellular organisms inhabit the soil, air, and water all around us. Some even reside within our own bodies. These unicellular organisms are intrinsically fascinating and visually stunning; they are architects, builders, travelers, parasites, hunters, scavengers, and prey; they have sex lives and mating rituals; they build communities and they go it alone. They are as complex in terms of behavior and lifestyle as any plant or animal, yet they do it all within the confines of a single cell.
We know comparatively little about microbial diversity, behavior, and ecology because we cannot see them. Yet these organisms make up the majority of life on Earth and play vital roles in food chains, nutrient cycles, industry, and health. Pondlife is an effort to document unicellular organisms as the complex living creatures that they are and make them accessible to a wide audience.
Micrasterias. A unicellular green alga.
About Sally
Pondlife is run by Sally Warring. Sally is a biologist and documentarian based in the UK. Sally has a B.Sc. with Honors in botany from the University of Melbourne in Australia (although she's from New Zealand), and a Ph.D. in genomics and molecular biology from New York University in the USA. She's currently a postdoctoral scientist at the Earlham Institute in Norwich, UK. Microbial organisms are wildlife and Sally wants to see them as regular fixtures in film, on TV, radio, social media, and print.
SAlly Warring, photo by Katy everson