Microorganisms

This teaching unit will cover the elements needed to understand the way of life of the major groups of unicellular organisms at the basis of ecosystem functioning (viruses, bacteria, archaea and unicellular eukaryotes....). The course covers the biological organization of each type of organism, its modes of reproduction and diversity, leading to notions of ecology. We will look at the role of these microorganisms in the functioning and dynamics of ecosystems, considering the interactions that these organisms maintain with other living beings (the notion of "symbiosis" in all its variations).

Practical work will :

 - implementation of techniques for bacterial enumeration (CFU), identification of a particular strain from an environmental sample

 - highlighting the diversity of phytoplankton (unicellular algae) in aquatic environments (freshwater)

 - demonstrating the specificity of interactions between bacteria and bacteriophages

mastery of techniques used in laboratory work (handling bacteria and viruses in sterile conditions, isolation and identification of bacterial species, etc.).

- integrating the role of different groups of single-cell organisms in ecosystem functioning

- develop a critical sense of the results obtained

- rigorous implementation of given protocols