Microbe Zoo Web Quest

1.Go to the Information Center and click on “What is a Microbe?”

Copy the outline for the major groups of organisms.

What is the difference between a Prokaryote and a Eukaryote?

What in the world is a PRION? What 2 words is Prion made from?

2. Visit Dirtland and fill in the following blanks:

Some scientists estimate that each gram of soil may contain ______different species of microorganisms! That's more biodiversity in one _____ of soil than all the different types of ______in the entire world. That's also more than all species of ______than have been cataloged (around 5,000)!

Next: Choose 3 subsections of Dirtland to visit. Read them, list,and describe three microbes that would be found in each dirt subsection.

1.

2.

3.

3. Visit the Animal Pavilion.

Look Under “Hosts with the Most” and click on Habitat on Humanity.

Tell how bacteria work in each of the following parts of our bodies:

Teeth:

Gums:

Stomach:

Large Intestine:

Skin:

4. Now visit Poo Corner and click on Poopy Problems:

  1. Every day, people on Earth produce over ______of poop.
  1. In fact, poop is already being degraded before it ever hits the ground, since _____ of poop by weight is microbes.

3.In nature,______of different species of protists, fungi and bacteria recycle poop into carbon dioxide and water.

4. More than ______disease causing microbes are carried in poop.

5. Salmonella typhimurium causes food poisoning. Carriers of this disease may excrete ______S. typhi bacteria per gram of poop.

6. Click on the hyper link of salmonella in Question #4. List the Kingdom and the Scientific Name for salmonella.

Kingdom:

Scientific Name:

Click on the jpeg and draw the bacteria:

5.Time to visit the Snack Bar!

  1. List the foods that are produced with the help of bacteria.
  1. Explain fermentation:
  1. Choose one of the foods and describe how it is made with the help of bacteria:

6. Visit Space Adventure. You must read through these three hyperlinksFrequent Flyers , Microbes on Mars? , Missions with Microbes to answer the following questions:

  1. What is the process through which people believed that life was spontaneously made from non-living material?
  1. In which year did NASA release evidence that may (or may not) indicate that microscopic organisms similar to Earthly bacteria lived on Mars early in the planet's history?
  1. What does the acronym CELSS stand for? Describe what it is:
  1. In 1991, ______were sealed inside Biosphere II for 2 years. Microbes helped maintain life in Biosphere II for all that time. Microbes recycled wastes, purified the air, and changed the atmosphere.

7. Last Stop, Water World.

Explore this page and write 5 fascinating facts about bacteria in water.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.