Under Your Feet

45

Food fixer

Some plants would

find it tricky to survive

without bacteria such

as rhizobia. This type

of microbe takes a gas

called nitrogen from

the air and uses it to

make plant food.

Eco-warrior

Methane is a greenhouse

gas that causes global

warming. Methylocapsa

gorgona takes methane

out of the air, because

it needs the gas

to survive.

Transformer

Fungi such as Mortierella

break down dead plants

and animals into new

material. Other living

things can then eat the

broken-down material.

Microbes

break down

animals as

well as plants.

Many types of

microbe can feast

on one leaf.

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