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Page 3 of 49 Inspector
Are you also aware that microscopic organisms live in many of Yellowstone’s thermal areas?
Macro
I’m afraid I know little about microorganisms, Sir. What exactly are they?
BB
Microorganisms, also called microbes, are single-celled living organisms, about a million times smaller than plants or animals. Individually, microbes are so tiny that they’re invisible without the aid of a microscope to magnify them. However, we can see them when vast numbers cluster together. Examples of microorganisms are algae and bacteria. Different kinds of microbes are found everywhere—in the soil beneath our feet, in the air we breathe, and in the sandwich you brought for lunch. Why, even our own bodies are full of them! And most are completely harmless to humans!
Macro
How can you say that? I thought that microorganisms cause diseases.
microbes: tiny life forms such as bacteria, archaea, algae, fungi and protozoa, usually not visible to the naked eye
algae: photosynthetic microrganisms which are mainly aquatic and differ from plants because of a lack of true stems, roots, and leaves
bacteria: unicellular microorganisms that are members of Domain Bacteria, one of the three trunks of the Tree of Life
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