We all might have heard the word microorganism in our day to day lives. But what really are microorganisms, where do they live? and how do they affect us? All these things will be discussed in this article.

On our earth we humans see organisms ranging from giant elephants to tiny ants . But the organisms living on earth are not limited only to what human eyes can perceive!! There are also very very small organisms which we cannot ever see with our naked eyes.They make nearly upto 60% of the living matter on earth and yet they were long unknown till microscope was discovered in the late 16th century.


Micro means very very small and organisms refers to living beings. So, microorganisms are very very small living organisms which can not be visualised or seen with the naked eye. Their size ranges in micrometres (um) that is 10-6. To visualise these organisms a special instrument known as microscope is used.
As these organisms can be viewed under microscope that is why they are also called microbes. 

Image of a compound microscope


TYPES OF MICROORGANISMS:

Microorganisms can be broadly divided into four categories, they are
1. Bacteria
2. Algae
3. Fungi
4. Protozoa

Out of these four group only the bacterias are the prokaryotic organisms which means that they are the only type of microorganism that do not possess a well defined nuclear or organellar membrane. Other three groups are eukaryotic.
Examples of microorganisms:
Bacteria- Lactobacillus, streptococcus gyri, pneumococcus, 
Algae- 
Fungi- penicillium, 
Protozoa- plasmodium, trypanosoma.

HABITAT
Microorganisms can be found nearly everywhere we can think of!! 
Starting from our skin to deep sea hydrothermal vents they are distributed all over the world.
They are adopted to their habitat so as to cope up with whatever environment they reside in.
They also possess many mechanism to cope up with the adverse conditions.

Microorganisms also reside within our intestine- a bacterial name E.coli lives within our intestine and helps in digestion. There can be harmful ones too.

They live in air, water and soil too. 



BENEFICIAL MICROBES

HARMFUL MICROBES

Watch the video below to get better understanding about microorganisms.

Thank you.
This post ends here.