Micro-organisms

Micro-organisms are life-forms that are usually too small for the human eye to see.They are very tiny one-celled organisms, viruses, fungi, and bacteria, and are found everywhere in the world. Micro-organisms are found in all living things, plants and animals. There are more microorganisms on and inside our body than there are cells that make up our entire body. Micro-organisms can live in the air, on land, and in fresh or salt water environments. Some of them are harmful and cause diseases, but
there are some microorganisms that are needed for living things to survive.

Protozoa

Protozoa are the most familiar microorganisms. They are neither animals nor plants. They have just one cell, which carries out all the functions necessary for them to live and reproduce. They live in watery environments, from damp soil and puddles, to lakes and oceans. There are more than 40,000 species of protozoa. Most protozoa reproduce by splitting themselves in two. Each of the two halves then becomes a single cell. This process is called binary fission. Many types of bacteria also produce in this way.

Useful Bacteria  Bacteria are nature’s most important recycling agents. They break down dead plants and animals, and return the materials to the ecosystem. Most bacteria are harmless to humans. Some are vital: without them we could not digest our food.

There are about 600 million bacteria in and on a human body. The skin of an armpit may be home to up to 800 bacteria per square millimeter.

Bacteria reproduce by splitting in two. They do this so quickly that just one could produce 4,000 million million million in 24 hours

Viruses

A virus is a tiny package of chemicals surrounded by a protein coat. There are many virus shapes, including road-shaped, round, and many-sided. They are all so small that they can be seen only with an electron microscope. Viruses cause many diseases, from the common cold to yellow fever. A virus shows no signs of life until it invades the cell of a living organism. The bacteriophage is a complex virus that reproduces by invading bacteria cells. It is replicated at a rate of 300 every half an hour.

Bacteria

Bacteria are tiny, single celled living things. They belong to the Moneran kingdom. Monerans are the simplest, and probably the most ancient, forms of life on Earth. They are found everywhere, from the depths of the oceans to the upper atmosphere. They are so numerous that their total weight would be
more than that of all other creatures put together. Bacteria are often classified according to their shape, which is spherical, rodshaped, or curved.

Land Microbes

All of the living things, plant and animal, in earth’s environmental communities of forests, deserts, tundra, water, air, and all of the rest depend on the cryptobiotic crust or microbiotic layer in the soil. This is the layer of soil that most microbes live in. These microbe communities are made up of fungi, cyanobacteria and lichens. They look like a grayish cover on the ground when they are first forming, but do form in clumps of lichen that look like little hills after about 50 years of growth.

Unlike singlecelled plants and animals, bacteria have no nucleus or other distinct parts.

Airborne Microbes

Airborne microbes cause a lot of illnesses and diseases in humans. Microorganisms can enter the air when a human or animal sneezes, or by the wind picking up the light particles and blowing them where
humans are. When a human sneezes, microorganisms leave the lungs at around 200 miles per hour. Some of the microorganisms that are growing in the mucus in the respiratory tract enter the air with the moisture particles that are sneezed out of the lungs. These microorganisms can be breathed into the lungs of another person and that person could get sick.

What do micro organisms do?

Microorganisms also are responsible for building fertile soil for plants to grow in. Microbes stick to the roots of plants and decompose dead organic matter into food for the plant to absorb. The plants that live and grow because of the microorganisms that live on them make a home for other animals to live in. Some microorganisms make people, animals, and plants sick, but others make people well and kill the bacteria on plants that make them sick. Drug companies that make medicines use hundreds of different microorganisms to make medicines that will help cure diseases. Human waste products are broken down into safer particles by some microorganism.

Bacteria and other microbes that cause disease are often called germs.

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