My favorite organism is amoeba. Amoebae (plural amoeba) are protozoans that belong to Amoebozoa kingdom. They consist of single celled organisms that have no definite shapes. These organisms are categorized as protist, a group of neither animals nor plant. Because Amoebae are mostly very tiny organism, microscope is needed to observe them while some are large enough to be observed with naked eyes. The most widely known Amoeba is probably Amoeba proteus. It sizes approximately around 0.028 inches (0.7mm) that is visible to naked eyes and the largest would be about 1mm. Amoebae can typically be found in fresh water like pounds, rivers, wet soil and around decaying vegetation. Some others exist in the human and the animal systems that include species that cause serious disease, for example, amoeba called the amoeba naegleria, as known as brain eating amoeba that live in warm water. They can infect you and slowly destroy your brain tissue and the result almost always will be the death, however, the majority of amoebae are harmless to humans. Interestingly, the name of Amoeba comes fro...
Cephalopods are known to be exceptionally intelligent by invertebrate standards and in some respects even rival “higher” vertebrates. These animals have many highly evolved sensory and processing organs that allow them to gain a greater understanding of their environment and their place within it. Due to their advanced structures, many of which are analogous to vertebrate structures, and abilities they have been widely studied. Their methods of learning have been of prime interest and many experiments have been conducted to determine the different ways in which octopuses can learn. From these experiments four main kinds of learning have been identified in octopuses: associative learning, special learning,
The microbe Naegleria fowleri, commonly called the brain-eating-amoeba, was first identified from a fatal case of primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) in Australia in 1961. In 1965, three further cases of fatal PAM were found, from which clinical and laboratory investigations pointed to a relation with acute bacterial meningitis among the cases of an unknown etiology. According to Fowler & Carter (1965), when post-death examinations of the bodies were performed researchers found that “microscopically the meningeal exudate consisted of about equal proportions of neutrophil leukocytes and chronic inflammatory cells, amongst which small, often degenerate amoebae were sparsely distributed” (p.740). The species of the organism that caused the amoeboflagellate related disease was later named Naegleria fowleri after one of the primary authors of the report, M. Fowler. Butt reports that the first case of PAM in the United States occurred in Florida in 1962 and a further retrospective study reported by dos Santos Netos suggested that additional identified cases of PAM in Virginia may have dated as far back as 1937 (as cited in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2013, Pathogen). As research on the microbe ensues, more cases of PAM are beginning to surface and the search for a cure to the fatal infection is imperative.
Bacteria play a large role in our health, the environment, and most aspects of life. They can be used in beneficial ways, such as decomposing wastes, enhancing fertilizer for crops, and breaking down of substances that our bodies cannot. However, many bacteria can also be very harmful by causing disease. Understanding how to identify bacteria has numerous applications and is incredibly important for anyone planning to enter the medical field or begin a career in research. Having the background knowledge of identifying an unknown bacteria may one day aid healthcare professionals diagnose their patient with a particular bacterial infection or help researchers determine various clinical, agricultural, and numerous other uses for bacteria.
Daphnia, commonly known as water fleas, are tiny crustaceans which live in water. The diameter of adult female bodies is approximately 3-5 mm. The upper skeleton is transparent, making the internal organs visible. This allows the heart rate of the Daphnia to be calculated by observing them under a microscope.
Crustaceans belong to the Arthropoda Phylum, which includes critters like ants, spiders, and centipedes. I know! Crazy to think that a delicious crab is in the same group as a spider! But they share similar characteristics. For starters, members of the Arthropoda Phylum do not have a backbone like you and me, so they are called __invertebrates__. And, as mentioned earlier, their skeleton is external, which is referred to as an __exoskeleton__.
The leguminosae family, more commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family; contain most of the plant species that form a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixing bacteria. About 20,000 species of legumes form their symbiosis with rhizobia; a nodule-inducing bacteria. Legumes have emerged as a very valuable resource for many countries for various reasons. The seeds of legumes are very high in protein, and some can also be rich in oil. Some countries donate up to 60% of their arable land in order to plant various types of this plant family. This family of plants is also used to enhance soil fertility and is a valuable source of wood. In various agricultural systems, the need for chemical fertilizer is greatly reduced due to the nitrogen fixation of the symbiotic bacteria that is hosted by the legumes. In some areas, almost 50% of the nitrogen added to the soil is due to this symbiotic relationship (3). Although an exact estimate of this symbiosis is hard to determine, legume-rhizobia relationships remain important to the function and composition of many natural ecosystems throughout the world (2).
Naegleria fowleri, the brain eating amoeba, exists around the world; reservoirs of N fowleri include sediments of lakes, rivers, geothermal water, soil, and poorly kept swimming pools. These microbes can live in temperatures up to 45 degree Celsius and do not require a host cell for survival. The free-living amoeba is the etiological source of primary amoebic meningeocephalitis (PAM), an acute and fatal disease of the central nervous system with fatality rates over 99%. Onset of illness is quick and death typically occurs within 7-14 days. Treatment for PAM poses a challenge because of rapid disease progression and limited awareness among clinicians. According to the CDC, there are more than 30 species of Naegleria that exist, however, N fowleri is exclusively the species recognized to be pathogenic in humans. When conditions are favorable, this free-living amoeba can survive outside of the host cell.
Microorganism is a living thing that cannot be seen by naked eye and is so small in size. Microorganism usually can be seen through microscope because microscope have the ability to see small thing using various magnification. The examples of microorganism are bacteria, fungi, protozoa, algae and virus. Among all of the microorganisms, bacteria have the greatest advantages in preserving food and beverages. Bacteria are generally harmless but can produce enzymes that can alter the structure the food. In extreme cases, bacteria can secrete toxic substances that can cause the food to spoil.
Arthropods are animals belonging to the phylum Arthropoda, which is the largest of all phyla in the Animal Kingdom, with more than one million species, making them almost 80% of the whole kingdom. These include insects, arachnids, crustaceans and many more, most of which are quite small, the biggest being the Japanese Spider Crab with a leg span of 3.5 meters and the smallest being the microscopic Plankton.
Leboffe, M. J., & Pierce, B. E. (2010). Microbiology: Laboratory Theory and Application, Third Edition 3rd Edition (3rd Ed.). Morton Publishing
You’ve heard your mom talking about “bacteria” and how it’s “so bad”. But little did they know that a single bacteria cell(one E. coli cell) only has a mass of 0.00000000000000095 or 9.510-16 kilograms? That’s so small, right? An E. coli cell is a prokaryotic cell that lives inside animals and humans that dominates the bacteria world. It’s so common, but yet so tiny!
Prescott, Harley & Klein (1990) describe bacteria as prokaryotic cells (cells that lack a true membrane enclosed nucleus). Bacteria are both small and simple in structure; they usually are between o.5 and 5cmm yet they have many characteristic shapes and sizes. Some bacteria are circular or oval shaped, they are known as cocci bacteria. Other bacteria are rod-shaped, they are known as bacilli bacteria, and some bacteria are spiral and coil-shaped and it is know as spirilla bacteria.
Microbes are everywhere in the biosphere, and their presence invariably affects the environment in which they grow. The effects
It is a single-celled organism that is not visible to the human eye, which means it can only be seen with a microscope. Bacteria are classified as Prokaryotes. They make their own food from the sunlight and can absorb food from the materials that they live on.