Decomposers and recycling

2.3.6

Decomposing organic material

Bacteria and fungi involved in decomposition feed in a different way from animals. They feed saprotrophically so they are described as saprotrophs. Saprotrophs secrete enzymes onto dead and waste material. These enzymes digest the material into small molecules, which are then absorbed into the organisms body. Having been absorbed, the molecules are stored or respired to release energy. If they didnt break down dead organisms, energy and valuable nutrients would remain trapped within the dead organisms. By digesting this material microbes get a supply of energy to stay alive, and the trapped nutrients are recycled. Microorganisms have a particuarly important role to play in the cycling of carbon and nitrogen within ecosystems.

Recycling nitrogen within an ecosytem

Living things need nitrogen to make proteins and nucleic acids. Nitrogen atoms are cycled between the biotic and abiotic components of an ecosystem. Bacteria are involved in ammonification, nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification.

Nitrogen Fixation
Nitrogen is very unreactive making it impossible for plants to use it directly. Instead they need a fixed supply of nitrogen such as ammonium ions or nitrate ions. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria account for a lot of the nitrogen fixation in the world, they live freely in the soil and fix nitrogen gas using it to manufacture amino acids. They can also live inside the root nodules of plants such as peas, beans and clover. They have a mutulistic relationship with the plant: the bacteria provide the plant with fixed nitrogen and recieve carbon compounds, like glucose, in return. Proteins in the nodules absorb oxygen and keep the condition anaerobic. Under these conditions the bacteria use an enzyme, nitrogenase, to reduce nitrogen gas to ammonium ions that can be used by the host plants.

Nitrification
This happens when chemoautotrophic bacteria in the soil absorb ammonium ions. Ammonium ions are released by bacteria involved in putrefaction of proteins found in dead or waste organic matter. Rather than getting their energy from sunlight chemoautotrophic bacteria obtain it by oxidising ammonium ions to nitrate ions, or by oxidising nitrite ions to nitrate ions. Because this oxidation requires oxygen, these reactions only happen in well - aerated soils. Nitrate ions can be absorbed from the soil by plants and used to make nucleotide bases and amino acids.

Denitrification
Other bacteria convert nitrate ions back to nitrogen gas. When the bacteria involved are growing under anaerobic conditions, they use nitrate ions as a source of oxygen for their respiration and produce nitrogen gas and nitrous oxide.

Questions
Why are bacteria called saprotrophs? Because they secrete enzymes onto dead and waste material. The enzymes digest the material into small molecules, which are then absored into the organisms body. Write down three names of species that are involed in the nitrogen cycle with their roles? Rhizobium fixes nitrogen. Nitrosomonas converts ammonium ions to nitrite ions. Nitrobacter converts nitrite to nitrate ions. Explain the difference between nitrogen fixation and nitrification? Nitrification is the conversion of ammonium to nitrate and nitrogen fixation is the conversion of inhert nitrogen gas into nitrogen of ammonia. Wht type of respration do denitrifying bacteria carry out? Anaerobic