Bacteria are the most overlooked organisms on your nature walk. You see birds, trees, and wildflowers. You may even examine fungi, rock formations, mosses, lichens, nests, tracks, and insects. However, it is likely that you are not seeing bacteria even though you may know they are there in countless numbers, far outnumbering the other organisms, and that their influence on the environment is vast and profound.Professor Betsey Dexter Dyer of Wheaton College examines the role of bacteria as major players in Earth's biodiversity. In the course of these fascinating lectures, Professor Dyer delves into the history of microbiology, the four billion year history of bacteria and archaea as the dominant organisms on Earth, and the place of pathogens in the greater context of the bacterial world. This course serves as both a field guide for curious naturalists and a friendly introduction to the world of bacteria and archaea.
Lecture 1 Introduction to the Bacterial World
Lecture 2 Hidden in Plain Sight
Lecture 3 Seventeenth-Century Microscopy and the Discovery of Bacteria
Lecture 4 A Brief History of Bacteriology
Lecture 5 The Family Tree of Bacteria
Lecture 6 The Extremophiles
Lecture 7 An Enormous and Diverse Group: The Proteobacteria
Lecture 8 An Enormous and Diverse Group: The Gram Positives
Lecture 9 Gram Positives in the Soil Community
Lecture 10 Bacteria as Pathogens
Lecture 11 What About the Viruses?
Lecture 12 Cyanobacteria: The Original Photosynthesizers
Lecture 13 Diverse Metabolisms
Lecture 14 Future Directions