Naming nature is necessary to generate and organize biological knowledge. With genetic data, identifying micro-eukaryote species is far less ambiguous now than it was just a few decades ago. Indeed, breakthroughs in reef coral research is improved with attention to the symbiont species.

In our paper, we show that DNA can be used as a source of phosphorus by a microbial community of a saltern. Yet, these microbes do not consume just any DNA…