This weeks prompt is about what characteristics are commonly shared in a microbial population. There are many different factors that define a group of microorganisms, but some of these are more commonplace than others. To start, factors such as temperature tolerance and ideal pH are shared characteristics. If we define a population of bacteria as a group of similar bacteria or bacteria of the same species, it would make sense that they would share similar traits relating to their environment. These bacteria would be grouped in similar environments, and would have similar tolerances for common environmental factors that are well known to dictate what types of bacteria/ microorganisms are present. For instance, if we have very acidic soil, we could assume that if we sampled a population of bacteria from there almost all of them should express a favoring of acidic environments. This type of grouping becomes important, because as scientists it allows us to start to categorize what microorganisms are present in a environment.
There are so many different species of bacteria on the planet that if we tried to individually separate and categorize them it would be impossible. By looking for similar characteristics in the population, we can make generalized assumptions about the types of bacteria in the environment. This can be useful for trying to identify new types of bacteria that have certain traits; look for known bacteria with those identifying traits, and other bacteria similar will most likely be situated in that same environment. We could also possibly say that because these bacteria are adapted to the same environment, that genetically they may be similar. It would make sense that different bacteria would produce similar proteins if it aided their ability to thrive in a certain environment. This is something that is close to the class material, and this genetic evaluation/ comparison is something that I assume we will be learning in more depth.
There are also differences between a microbial population and a microbial community. I view a population in this sense as a group of bacteria that share similar characteristics and possibly similar genetic sequences due to a shared environmental space or other outside factors. However a community is multiple separate populations, where groups of bacteria differ greatly from one another. They may share some similarities, but the differences in characteristics outweigh the similarities. I believe that the diversity between these groups is what separates just a population from a community.
