preview

Microbes And The Environment

Decent Essays

Microbes And The Environment

When you pick up a handful of soil from outside you are not only picking up soil you are picking up a handful of microbes. In that one handful there are many different varieties of living microbes, they range from algae, fungi, bacteria and many more. “A single teaspoon of that soil contains over 1,000,000,000 bacteria, about 120,000 fungi and 25,000 algae.”(Microbe World) They are found everywhere that you can think of on Earth, this includes the ground, air, plants and animals. Microbes are one of the oldest living things on Earth they have been around for billion of years and continue to live here under any conditions because they are constantly adapting to the environment that they live in. “These environments range from the boiling waters of hot springs in Yellowstone National Park to the freezing temperatures of Antarctica.” (Microbe World) The microbes that exist in our world are not all bad they have many very helpful traits that can be observed every day .Microbes just like bacteria and fungi break down complex pollutants into simpler substances to gain energy and nutrients by the process called biodegradation. “What biodegradation means is the chemical dissolution of materials by bacteria or other biological means. Although often conflated, biodegradable is distinct in meaning from compostable.” (Biodegradation.) Microbes are found naturally in the world and they are also used by humans for important reasons. For example they

Get Access