Bacteria Webquest
Name: ___________________________
Objective: This is to introduce you to the world of bacteria! Go to the websites and answer the following questions on your
own paper.
Please visit the following website(s):
http://archives.microbeworld.org/microbes/bacteria/ (view all the links under the headings Archae & Bacteria on the left side)
http://www.emc.maricopa.edu/faculty/farabee/BIOBK/BioBookmito.html#Prokaryotic%20Cell%20Division
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/65525/binary-fission (watch the animation - you’ll need sound!)
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What is a bacteria?
What is a prokaryote?
How are bacteria classified?
What are the three main shapes of bacterial cells?
How small are bacteria?
How do bacteria reproduce, describe the process.
How can one slow the reproductive process of bacteria?
Why are bacteria considered ubiquitous? (you might have to look up what ubiquitous means!)
Please visit the following website: http://archives.microbeworld.org/microbes/archaea/
9. How does each of the following make their energy (what type of feeder are they)?
A) Methanogens –
B) Halophiles –
C) Thermophiles –
D) Psychrophiles –
10. How are Archae bacteria different than Eubacteria?
11. How long ago did Bacteria and Archaebacteria diverge from a common ancestor?
Please visit the following website: http://www.cellsalive.com/cells/bactcell.htm
Label the parts of the bacterium: flagella, pilli, nucleoid(DNA), ribosomes, cell membrane, cell wall, capsule
Please visit the following websites:
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/bacterial-conjugation
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072556781/student_view0/chapter13/animation_quiz_1.html
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072556781/student_view0/chapter13/animation_quiz_2.html
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Genetic recombination occurs in bacteria. What is conjugation or “bacterial sex?”
Draw the process of conjugation labeling the terms pili, sex plasmid, conjugation bridge, “male” and “female.”
How is transduction different? (I.e. what is involved with the genetic exchange?)
What is bacterial transformation? How has it been used in recent years?
What is the importance of bacterial exchange or sex in nature?
Please visit the following website: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/bacterialh.html
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What are pathogenic bacteria?
What do aerobic bacteria require?
Where do anaerobic bacteria live and what can they cause?
How do facultative anaerobic bacteria differ from the other two?
What is decomposition and how do bacteria play a role in the environment?
What is nitrogen fixation and why are bacteria crucial to this cycle of life?
What is denitrifying bacteria and why are they harmful to crops?
Please visit the following websites:
http://www.cellsalive.com/pen.htm
http://whyfiles.org/2012/bacteria-social-critters/
http://www.microbiologybytes.com/video/endospores.html
24. What is penicillin? How does it work?
25. What is a plasmid? How does this allow for antibiotic resistance?
26. How can some strains of bacteria, like anthrax, survive harsh, unfavorable conditions?
Please visit the following website: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/bugdrug/antibiotic_manual/Gram1.htm
27. What is a gram stain?
28. What’s the difference between a gram positive and a gram negative bacterial cell?
Use an online dictionary such as http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prefix to answer the following question.
29. What do the prefixes diplo-, strepto- and staphylo- mean when dealing with bacteria?