Reflective Journal Week Two
Date : 2nd - 6th March 2015
Notes :
For this week, basically I learnt about Principle of Ecology. On the first lecture we had to read journal related with principle of ecology. After that, we were discussing about that particular journal for a better understanding about microbial ecology. The definition of ecology is The study of the relationships among organisms and between the environment, the physical and biological factors affecting them or influenced their distribution and abundance, and understanding the mechanisms involved in biological diversity
The hierarchy of the ecology is:
In this topic also involved in how microorganism adapts to the environment.
There are two types of strategies to survive in the environment : r-strategist and k-strategist.
r-strategist : rapid growth means that it has the microorganism can grow in short period and have a short generation time. Usually the type of microbes evolved with this strategy is bacteria and prokaryotes.
k-strategist : Adaptation. the microorganism usually are in larger size such as fungi and protozoa. the advantages of being in larger size are dominant and have large food storage. Population more stable with permanent members and lack transient members.
In community succession, there are series of event take place. primary succession is by pioneer organism when they colonize the virgin environment, then the occurrence of preemptive colonization. Preemptive colonization is when the pioneer organism invaded the environment and, try to discourage the further succession by another organism. But, if preemptive colonization is failed, secondary succession will take place.
There are two types of secondary succession processes :
- Autogenic succession -Microorganism able to modify the habitat and eventually the new population will emerge. The example is biofilm (it is a thin layer of a group of microbes that able to attach to certain surface as they will give support to the microbe.
- Allogeneic succession- Habitat is altered due to the environmental factors.
Homeostasis is the dynamic balance of processes, materials and organism in the ecosystem and biosphere.
- P(Photosynthesis):R(Respiration) approx 1
- Autotrophic succssion P:R>1
- Heterotrophic succession P:R<1
Role of homeostatis :
- to maintain steady-state condition
- to counteract perturbations that would upset steady state
- to restore initial community when alien microorganism enter the habitat
Ecological Crisis means that it is unfavourable to the environment.
Activities :
In the class, we are discussing among the group about the article related to the principle of ecology and shared it in the padlet.
The journal that we discussed entitled ‘ Increased rectal microbial richness is associated with the presence of colorectal adenomas in humans‘. from this journal we discovered that from this journal we discovered that we have discussed(Increased rectal microbial richness is associated with the presence of colorectal adenomas in humans) , the environment is the guts of human. The interaction that occurred is mutualism where the norma microbiota helps to fight pathogen.There are increased in microbiota in the environment of the gut for example the cancer case, there are increase in number of pathogen such as Helicobacter `while in healthy person, there are abundance of beneficial microbiota such as Lactocbacillus.
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My Own Exploration : I had found one article that attracted me the most about the principle of ecology. the title is SOIL MICROBES AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO SOIL SERVICES. From this article, it discuss about the function of soil microbes and there is a table that clearly state the roles of microbes in provisioning and regulating services provided by soil ecosystems.
I also read interesting article from science daily webpage.
Reflection on this topic : I have a better understanding about the principle of ecology. Now I have realized how vast is the ecology of the microbes. Microorganisms have their own roles and function in the ecology. As a microbiology student, curiosity is important because it triggers us on how to be a better scientist in the future. From now on, we should think out of the box with everything that happens around us. Think beyond the limit. There is one part attracted me the most which is ecological crisis. why? As a human being, I guess we should have that kind of mind set where we feel responsible toward the environment. we shall not be greedy and must find a solution to save the environment.
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