11 Reasons to Love Bacteria, Fungi and Spores

Plants and animals require nitrogen to build the proteins and amino acids that are fundamental to biology. While nitrogen makes up almost 80 percent of our atmosphere, nitrogen gas is inert and cannot be used by most living organisms. It needs to be converted into fixed compounds, such as nitrates, nitrites and ammonia. The principal players in this biological process are free-living bacteria in the soil and bacterial species, such as Rhizobium, that live in symbiotic relationships with plants. These bacteria build nitrogen-fixing root nodules on leguminous plants like peas, beans and clover. Once the nitrogen has been fixed, it is available to build plant proteins, which are then eaten by animals and converted into animal proteins. Without these bacteria, life as we know it would not exist on Earth.