Using computer simulations, scientists have predicted that the release of only 1 per cent of dormant pathogens could cause major global environmental damage. 

These pathogens have been frozen in ice and permafrost for millennia. However, rising global temperatures could cause these materials to melt, releasing the microbes. 

To better understand this hypothetical scenario, researchers have simulated experiments where digital pathogens from the past invade communities of bacteria-like hosts. They then compared the effects of the invading pathogens on the diversity of host bacteria to those in communities where no invasions occurred.

The results of the study showed that the ancient invading pathogens could often survive and evolve in the modern world, with about 3 per cent becoming dominant in their new environment.

However, about 1 per cent of those invaders caused up to one-third of the host species to die out, while others increased diversity by up to...