• Home
  • About
  • GCSE/IGCSE
    • IGCSE Physics
    • IGCSE Biology
    • IGCSE Chemistry
    • IGCSE Mathematics
    • GCSE English Literature
    • GCSE Geography
    • GCSE Economics
    • GCSE Religious Studies
    • GCSE History
    • MORE GCSE/IGCSE Subjects...
  • StudentSPACE!
  • SEARCH
  • Home
  • About
  • GCSE/IGCSE
    • IGCSE Physics
    • IGCSE Biology
    • IGCSE Chemistry
    • IGCSE Mathematics
    • GCSE English Literature
    • GCSE Geography
    • GCSE Economics
    • GCSE Religious Studies
    • GCSE History
    • MORE GCSE/IGCSE Subjects...
  • StudentSPACE!
  • SEARCH

Even microbes carry out tiny “commerce”

15/1/2014

0 Comments

 
A clos­er look at mi­crobes re­veals there’s big busi­ness go­ing on in their very small world, and some­times we are part of the trans­ac­tion, sci­ent­ists say.

A team of re­search­ers in­clud­ing North­ern Ar­i­zo­na Uni­vers­ity sci­ent­ist Nan­cy Col­lins John­son ar­gue in the jour­nal Pro­ceed­ings of the Na­t­ional Acad­e­my of Sci­ences that mi­crobes, like many an­i­mals, are sav­vy traders, sell­ing high and buy­ing low.
“Although hid­den from the na­ked eye, mi­croor­gan­isms are ac­tive in com­plex net­works of trade, swap­ping nu­tri­ents, hoard­ing re­sources and bar­ter­ing deals us­ing many of the same strate­gies hu­mans use to dom­i­nate mar­kets,” John­son said. 

“While we know such ‘bi­o­log­i­cal mar­kets’ ex­ist in na­ture be­tween cog­ni­tive [high­er] or­gan­isms—for ex­am­ple, when pri­ma­tes groom each oth­er in ex­change for food—it is dif­fi­cult to im­ag­ine mar­kets emerg­ing” on such a small scale.

Yet all or­gan­isms, in­clud­ing hu­mans, co­op­er­ate with ben­e­fi­cial mi­crobes, she not­ed. “For ex­am­ple, our gut bac­te­ria give us vi­ta­mins and nu­tri­ents and are cru­cial to our well-being,” John­son said.

Mi­crobes al­so co­op­er­ate with plants. John­son and the oth­er au­thors dis­cuss di­verse eco­nom­ic strate­gies em­ployed by mi­crobes, in­clud­ing avoid­ing bad trad­ing part­ners, sav­ing for a rainy day and build­ing lo­cal busi­ness ties.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Similar

    World of Physics

    Archives

    January 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Tweet

Support by switching your ad blocker off.

Feel free to visit our sponsors!

You can support us through the ads.


GCSE/IGCSE Revision

Physics   Biology   Chemistry   Maths 
English Literature   
Economics
Religious Studies   Geography 
History   
MORE...

OxNotes I/GCSE revision notes
Tweet #OxNotes
Why ads?
Find your GCSE topic, and get great grades. Best of luck!
Help more students by tweeting #OxNotes
OxNotes, Free, Powerful GCSE Revision Notes. OxNotes: Exam, revision & homework help. GCSE/IGCSE secondary school study learning guides.
© Copyright 2017 OxNotes Education - All Rights Reserved. By using our site and service, you agree to our: "Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy & Disclaimer".
OxNotes GCSE Revision
  • Home
  • About
  • GCSE/IGCSE
    • IGCSE Physics
    • IGCSE Biology
    • IGCSE Chemistry
    • IGCSE Mathematics
    • GCSE English Literature
    • GCSE Geography
    • GCSE Economics
    • GCSE Religious Studies
    • GCSE History
    • MORE GCSE/IGCSE Subjects...
  • StudentSPACE!
  • SEARCH
  • Home
  • About
  • GCSE/IGCSE
    • IGCSE Physics
    • IGCSE Biology
    • IGCSE Chemistry
    • IGCSE Mathematics
    • GCSE English Literature
    • GCSE Geography
    • GCSE Economics
    • GCSE Religious Studies
    • GCSE History
    • MORE GCSE/IGCSE Subjects...
  • StudentSPACE!
  • SEARCH
Tweet #OxNotes!
​
✕