Generally
people do not like bacteria and fungi. Some of them work hard to provide you
with nutrients that sustain your life. Bacteria, fungi and invertebrates are
living things belonging to a group called decomposers. Decomposers feed on
organic waste (including excrement) and dead matter in the natural environment.
In so doing they get their energy needed for their activities and to sustain
their lives. Also they break down waste matter into simpler substances in the
soil for use by plants. The breakdown of waste or dead matter into simpler
substances is used by plants as nutrients to complete a nutrient cycle. The nutrient
cycle starts with plants to producing food for animals, and humans too, to
consume. The waste from the consumption, and dead plants and animals are what,
as already indicated, decomposers turn into rich nutrients for plants, thus
ending the nutrient cycle(with the nutrients plants are able to produce fruits
for you to eat thus getting your vitamin needs). Nothing is wasted. Compare it
with how humans manage their waste; we should be learning from them. In the nutrient
cycle I have described, the key players are producers, consumers and
decomposers. The picture that follows gives pictorial support to the nutrient cycle in a food chain.
I am
going to discuss the three types of decomposers I have mentioned one by one. Let
me state again that they are bacteria, fungus and invertebrate.
BACTERIA
Bacteria
is the plural form of bacterium. Bacterium is an organism that cannot be seen
with the eye, so it is a microscopic organism. It is a one- celled organism so
it is called a unicellular organism. Bacteria are found everywhere in the
natural environment- air, water, soil, inside of human beings, on the body of
human beings etc. Some are doing a good job, others are not. They come in
different shapes. The shapes are: rod- bacilli, spiral- spirilli and ball-
cocci. The number of bacteria in the Earth is estimated to be five nonillion (5×10³⁰).
Bacteria have no nuclei so they are categorized as prokaryotes.
Types:
Bacilli-
they are shaped like rod.
Spirilli-
they are shaped like spiral.
Cocci-
they are shaped like ball.
Bacteria as a decomposer:
Keeps
nitrogen in the area of plant roots so that it is not lost to air and water.
Some
bacteria breakdown soil pollutants like pesticides and herbicides.
A
fertile soil can contain between 100 million and one billion bacteria.
A
compost can contain twice as much.
FUNGI
Fungi
is the plural form of fungus, they are both nouns. Fungi is a classification
group, a family of organisms to be named later. Fungi are ubiquitous. They are
present in the air, water bodies, soil and on and in plants and animals. Fungi
like bacteria, break down organic matter and thereby give out elements such as carbon,
nitrogen, oxygen and phosphorous into the soil (for plant use) and air. It is a
member of the eukaryotic group of organisms. It means they have cells with
nucleus, and subunit within the cell- eukaryote.
Types:
Mushrooms
Molds
Mildews
Smuts
Rusts
Yeasts
As Decomposers:
Passes
nutrients from plant to plant.
Some
plants get their nutrients from fungi parasitically.
Inhabit
tissues inside roots, leaves and stems symbiotically.
Increases
plants uptake of nutrients like nitrate and phosphate where such nutrients are
low in the soil.
Degrade
insecticides, herbicides, coaltar etc. and turn them into carbon dioxide, for
example.
INVERTEBRATE
Invertebrates
are animals without backbone. They are filled with fluid. Of the one million or
so animal species, 98% are invertebrates. The largest number of invertebrates
are insects.
Some invertebrates:
Beetles
Worms
Ants
Earthworms
Snails
Millipedes
Jelly
Fish
As Decomposers:
Aquatic
invertebrates shred leaves, and thereby prepare them for the secondary level of
production.
They help
in breaking down animal carcasses.
TEMPERATURE
The most
suitable temperature for decomposition is 45°C or 113°F.
The
temperature range at which there are a wide variety of decomposers is 35°C to
45°C.
SUMMARY
The
cycle starts with the production of say, apple by a plant, consumers, including
humans, consume the apple, waste resulting from the consumption of the apple (apple
core), dead leaves falling from the plant are cleaned up (eat) by the bacteria,
fungi and invertebrate (decomposers) to release nutrients like nitrogen into
soil for the plant to continue to produce more apples to restart the cycle.
Decomposers
clean up waste on Earth.
In
feeding on waste, decomposers get their energy to sustain their lives.
Decomposers
help in the distribution of nutrients in the nutrient cycle.
PARTING SHOTS
Suppose
these cleanup guys were not around? The Earth should be littered with
carcasses, dead leaves (piles of them), and dead wood. There should be no life
because what plants produce is what consumers, including humans, eat to sustain
life, and for plants to produce for consumers they need nutrients which is
provided by the activities of decomposers.
The
natural environment run in cycles, and in those cycles nothing is wasted.
Cycles are self-sustaining, self-sufficient, clean and balanced.
Through
cycles, the cleanup guys of the Earth are able to keep their environment spick
and span. Ought we not to learn from cleanup guys (decomposers) to keep the
anthrosphere clean and balanced, sustainably? The anthrosphere is the area of
the environment with human activities.
Reference:
https://www.bing.com/search?q=decomposers&first=1&FORM=PERE
http://www.the-compost-gardener.com/decomposers.html
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