Activity 80

Nature’s Recyclers

Producer (autotroph)

• Produce their own food using sunlight (photosynthesis) or chemicals (chemosynthetic).

• Ex. Plant, chemosynthetic bacteria

Consumer (heterotroph)

• Can not produce their own food and must eat other organisms to get their energy.

• Ex. Animal

Decomposer

• A type of consumer (heterotroph) that breaks down waste and dead organisms.

• Ex. Bacteria, Fungi, Worms

Bacteria

• Smallest and simplest living things, no nucleus• First form of life on Earth• Reproduce by binary fission• Can survive for millions of years by forming a

protein coat called an endospore.• Can be producers or consumers( decomposers

or parasites).

Bacteria have 3 shapes

• Bacilli or rod shaped• Cocci or spherical• Spirilla or spiral shaped

Two Kingdoms

• 1 Archaebacteria- primitive and live in extreme environments.

• 2. Eubacteria – most bacteria.

Pair/ Share

• With your elbow partner, come up with 3 ways bacteria can be helpful and 3 ways it can be harmful.

Helpful Bacteria• Nitrogen fixing bacteria change N2 in the air

into a form that plants can use.• Return nutrients back into environment by

decomposition.• Bioremediation- some bacteria can beak down

harmful pollutants into harmless chemicals.

Helpful Bacteria (continued)• Genetically engineered bacteria are used to

produce medicine like insulin, antibiotics.• Bacteria is used to make food like cheese,

yogurt, sour cream…• Intestinal bacteria help digest food and absorb

vitamins.

Important part of the food web

Harmful Bacteria• Pathogenic bacteria – can cause diseases in

people, animals, plants, protists and fungi.

• Spoils food.

• Antibiotic resistant bacteria are on the rise.