Question

After watching "A world without microbes: An Apocalyptic Thought Experiment" video

1) What is the fundamental impact of microbes on this planet

2) Which two items discussed in the video impressed the most

Answer 1

1,

Microbes are everywhere in the biosphere, and their presence invariably affects the environment that they are growing in. The effects of microorganisms on their environment can be beneficial or harmful or inapparent with regard to human measure or observation. Since a good part of this text concerns harmful activities of microbes (i.e., agents of disease) this chapter counters with a discussion of the beneficial activities and exploitations of microorganisms as they relate to human culture. The beneficial effects of microbes derive from their metabolic activities in the environment, their associations with plants and animals, and from their use in food production and biotechnological processes

The most significant effect of the microorganisms on earth is their ability to recycle the primary elements that make up all living systems, especially carbon (C), oxygen (O) and nitrogen (N). These elements occur in different molecular forms that must be shared among all types of life. Different forms of carbon and nitrogen are needed as nutrients by different types of organisms. The diversity of metabolism that exists in the microbes ensures that these elements will be available in their proper form for every type of life.

Examples:-

Primary production involves photosynthetic organisms which take up CO2 in the atmosphere and convert it to organic (cellular) material. The process is also called CO2 fixation, and it accounts for a very large portion of organic carbon available for synthesis of cell material. Although terrestrial plants are obviously primary producers, microorganisms such as planktonic algae and cyanobacteria account for nearly half of the primary production on the planet. These unicellular organisms which float in the ocean are the "grass of the sea", and they are the source of carbon from which marine life is derived.

Decomposition or biodegradation results in the breakdown of complex organic materials to forms of carbon that can be used by other organisms. There is no naturally-occurring organic compound that cannot me degraded by some microbe, although some synthetic compounds such as teflon, styrofoam, plastics, insecticides and pesticides are broken down slowly or not at all. Through the metabolic processes of fermentation and respiration, organic molecules are eventually broken down to CO2 which is returned to the atmosphere.

Production of Oxygen - Photosynthesis occurs not only in plants, but in microorganisms like algae and cyanobacteria. Photosynthesis results in the production of O2 in the atmosphere. At least 50 percent of the O2 on earth is produced by photosynthetic microorganisms (algae and cyanobacteria), and for at least a billion years before plants evolved, microbes were the only organisms producing O2 on earth. O2 is required by many types of organisms, including animals, in their respiratory processes.

2, a, Microbes are really important for digestion. They help us to break down the food that we eat. So whatever food we still had, we’d have trouble digesting it. There’re also some bacteria in our gut that produce compounds, chemicals, vitamins that, uh, we need, that we find it hard to get from our diet. So, without those present, we would start to suffer from malnutrition. The problems don’t stop at digestion. Our microbiome actually can affect our endocrine system, that's the hormones inside your body. And always know if our hormones are out of balance, we will feel kind of quirky. it can also regulate the neurotransmitters that are produced in your brain, which can affect things like depression and anxiety.

The cattle, the sheep, which rely on bacteria in their gut to break down all of that cellulose, the plant matter they, they would be consuming. They wouldn't be able to get enough nutrients from their food. Most of the livestock that we rely on would have started to fall over and die.

b,

What will happens to the  entire world and the 7 billion other people on this planet when the microbes all disappear? People suffocating and not able to consume enough food. The world is dying. It’s not that just humans are killing each other but the world is dying and the oxygen is running out. it's global death.The foliage on earth has started to brown. Most of the plants require nutrients in the soil which are generated by microbes. The crops would start dying. So we'd have massive food shortages.

Plants are reliant upon bacteria to survive.If they don't have microbes to take in and convert important chemical compounds into usable parts, they'll rapidly lose to ability to produce fuel via photosynthesis and will quickly die.

ie, no microbes means  no plants means no oxygen means no life on the earth.