The world of microorganisms

There are a wide variety of organisms on earth, ranging from microbes which cannot be seen via naked eyes, to giant organisms like blue whale. All of them contribute a lot to our planet’s ecosystem.

The microorganisms, although cannot be seen via naked eyes, are huge in number and contribute a lot to our ecosystem. Some of them help in decomposing dead plants and animals, some are used in making food products, some play a vital role in the nitrogen cycle, some live inside our body and help in digestion and so on. Besides all of their beneficial uses, some are dangerous and harmful too. They can cause serious diseases in plants and animals.

The size of a microorganism is measured by micrometer.

There are a wide variety of microorganisms. According to their structure, means of locomotion, mode of nutrition, etc, microorganisms can be classified into seven types viz. bacteria, archea, algae, fungi, viruses, protozoa, and multicellular animal parasites (helminths).

Some beneficial uses of microorganisms :

They are used in making breads, wines, curd, cheese, butter, etc.

They are used in making manures.

They play a vital role in nitrogen cycle by converting nitrogen gas to ammonia, ammonia to nitrites or nitrates, nitrates to nitrogen gas and vice versa.

They are used in treating waste water.

They are used in creating biofuels.

Some diseases caused by harmful microorganisms :

Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes TB(Tubercolosis).

Plasmodium falciparum causes malaria.

Plant disease such as blight is caused by fungi.

Leishmania, a protozoan causes kala-azar.

Helicobacter pylori causes peptic ulcers.

By looking all the wide varieties of microorganisms and their huge contributions, they can be considered to have a huge separate world for themselves. It is not much easy to study and know their world and there are yet much undiscovered things from their world.