Task 11
A. Identify at least five environments in which you are likely to find microbial life.
Microorganisms are everywhere: in the air, soil, water, rocks, plants and animals and humans. Some thrive in intense heat, while others require extreme subzero temperatures.
B. Describe five vital functions microbes serve.
They produce oxygen by oxygenic photosynthesis which occurs in algae and cyanobacteria; also through decomposition they release mineral nutrients such as potassium and nitrogen from dead organic matter, making it available for primary producers, thus maintaining soil fertility. Some bacteria’s are able to remove nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it to ammonia. Planktonic algae and cyanobacteria float in the ocean and are the main source of carbon and food from which marine life is derived i.e. they are main food chain in the ocean. Some microbes also protect the human body when the “good bacteria’s” serve the function of normal flora. Other functions are carbon dioxide fixation. Microbes are also used by scientist to make medicine, food and enzymes (Levinson, 2014).
C. Describe what type of growth you observed in the following dishes (e.g., number of colonies, shape, color, and defining characteristics):
The air dish had six colonies, most are coccus shaped although one is rather large and coccobacilli shaped, with a cream color. Observation of the soil dish showed lots of tiny colonies. It's shaped like a coccus and looked cream/whitish in color with a touch of grey or black at some parts. It may just be the soil though. In the stream water dish there are countless numbers of larger looking colonies and contrasting small dotted once. They are also coccus shaped and have a cream/whitish color; however, throughout the dish there are black coccus shaped dots.
D. Discuss any similarities and differences in the types of microbes you observed.