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Microbes are well-known for their great diversity and abundance in modern natural environments. They also are believed to provide critical links among higher organisms and their associated environments. However, the low diversity of morphological features and structures of ancient microbes preserved in sediments and rocks make them difficult to identify and classify. This difficulty greatly hinders the investigation of geomicrobes throughout Earth history. Thus, most previous paleontological studies have focused on faunal and floral fossils. Here, geomicrobial functional groups (GFGs), or a collection of microbes featured in specific ecological, physiological or biogeochemical functions, are suggested to provide a way to overcome the difficulties of ancient microbe investigations. GFGs are known for their great diversity in ecological, physiological and biogeochemical functions. In addition, GFGs may be …