Bet you never thought your body had much in common with a rain forest or a coral reef.
But for zillions of microscopic critters, you are a walking, breathing, living ecosystem. You’re a complex community of interdependent organisms that inhabit the same environment.
So many bacteria live on your body that they outnumber human cells by at least a hundred to one. They account for about 10 percent of your body weight. Washing removes many bacteria, but they reproduce very quickly—doubling as fast as every 20 minutes. The bacteria population on your body can restore itself within hours.
