How deep we can understand biology without biology
Advances in microbial oceanography increasingly rely on indirect approaches—modeling, chemistry, physics, and big data—to infer biological processes in the aquatic environment. But how far can we go in understanding life without direct biological observation? This presentation explores the limits and potential of studying oceanic microbial life through proxies: genomic sequences with no cultured representatives, biogeochemical signatures lacking known metabolic links, and models built without mechanistic validation. Drawing from recent studies in microbial ecology, we argue that while non-biological data streams have revolutionized our view of microbial life, they also risk reinforcing conceptual blind spots. We examine case studies where biology was inferred solely from omics and geochemical patterns, and where subsequent biological confirmation challenged or overturned initial interpretations.