The negative and positive role of bacteria

In quantitative terms, these smallest living organisms are the most numerous inhabitants of land, seas, and atmosphere. According to scientists, only one gram of soil can live more than one hundred million bacteria. And with regard to the settling of the Earth, microorganisms occupy an honorable first place. After all, they appeared on the planet more than 3.7 billion years ago. And some of them have changed little since then! What is the role of bacteria in nature? In what global processes are these microscopic beings involved? Which of them are useful, and which are harmful to the human body? For all these questions, let's try to give short answers in this article.

A bit about bacteria

Nature, creating bacteria, provided them with an unprecedented margin of strength and many qualities that are absent in most other inhabitants of the planet Earth. They are able to withstand high and low temperatures, calmly exist at high and low atmospheric pressure, practically without oxygen. Microorganisms are as if designed to populate new worlds, fixing on unknown, uninhabited areas. With a rather primitive structure (most - unicellular), bacteria have a huge margin of safety, are perhaps the most effective of the known existing life forms.

Where do they live?

These microorganisms are omnipresent, they live everywhere: on land, in oceans and seas, in the air and even inside other organisms. There are a lot of them, myriads. Despite this, the bacteria became "familiar" to humans only recently, after the invention of an optical device, repeatedly increasing the objects. Then the scientists could see them, as they say, with their own eyes. And before that, huge colonies of bacteria existed unnoticed, invisibly helping or harming all of humanity. What is the role of bacteria in nature? Which of them do they help and which ones do they harm? Let's look into the microscope!

The positive role of bacteria

These ancient inhabitants of the planet seem to care about their habitat, bringing tremendous benefits to the whole planet in general and to mankind in particular. The positive role of bacteria can be traced in various spheres of influence: on nature, atmosphere, and man. Let us consider each of them in detail.

The orderlies of nature

The fact is that many bacteria consume the dead remains of other creatures, being original "wipers", cleansing the nature of unnecessary trash and not allowing to accumulate waste of life. In science, this phenomenon is called saprotrophy. Without such bacteria, the world would simply suffocate from the mass of waste that must be continuously disposed of. This is what many microorganisms are doing that act as nurses.

Blue-green algae

And these cyanobacteria, mistakenly formerly called algae, are able to participate in photosynthesis. The positive role of bacteria of this type is in the mass production of oxygen. Scientists have determined that at the beginning of time it was these smallest organisms that began to form the earth's atmosphere. As a result, it turned out to be exactly the way we used to feel it. Of course, in modern environmental conditions, oxygen as a result of photosynthesis produces not only blue-green algae. But still the primacy and the lion's share are behind them. And without these bacteria it would be impossible to form flora and fauna on the planet in the form in which they exist today.

Cycle of substances

Another positive role of bacteria is the participation in the global circulation of substances in nature. On land and sea, in the air there is a global exchange of elements. All substances on the planet Earth go from one organism to another. Without microorganisms, such a transition would simply not be possible. The most studied by science process of the nitrogen cycle, which consists of several stages: fixation, oxidation, restoration (by rotting or ammonification). In all three cases, the processes are carried out with the help of certain groups of bacteria. These are nodule and aerobic microorganisms that participate in the processes of protein decomposition and transformation. Scientists have identified the participation of these microscopic creatures in the reproduction and transformation of carbon dioxide, sulfur, iron, phosphorus. At present, additional studies of these phenomena are carried out.

Food Chains

What is the role of bacteria in the context of nutrition of living beings? Despite the fact that these organisms are microscopically small, they serve as food for some larger creatures. Which, in turn, feed on others. Of course, for example, for humans, bacteria are not any significant part of nutrition. But indirectly, we still use them for food, without noticing it. A vivid example is the products of barrel conservation and the whole "sour milk" (by the way, beer and wine are also the result of the work of bacteria and fungi). In the national cuisines of the peoples of the world there are always such products.

For a person

What is the role in life of bacteria (for humans)? Microorganisms living in the intestine are affable and non-malignant "neighbors." These include bifidobacteria and bacteroids, as well as E. coli, enterococci, lactobacilli. They all make up a useful microflora and perform protective and digestive functions. It has been established that in the whole intestine the mass of microorganisms is about three kilograms. It's pretty much in percentage.

The negative role of bacteria

But these microorganisms play not only a positive role in the environment and human life. On our body, some bacteria (about 1%) can have a pathogenic effect under certain circumstances. A huge danger is contained in the pathogens, parasites, which can cause infectious diseases: plague, cholera, etc. Of the less dangerous diseases you can call angina, pneumonia. Therefore, probably, scientists prefer to keep these small parasites under constant control.

Another negative role of bacteria - their participation in the spoilage of edible. Under certain conditions, they are able to "eat" food left outside the refrigerator for a rather fast time. After that, for people, these products are already becoming unusable.