Bacteria can be found in soil, water, plants, animals, radioactive waste, deep in the earth’s crust, arctic ice and glaciers, and hot springs. There are bacteria in the stratosphere, between 6 and 30 miles up in the atmosphere, and in the ocean depths, down to 32,800 feet or 10,000 meters deep.
Aerobes, or aerobic bacteria, can only grow where there is oxygen. Some types can cause problems for the human environment, such as corrosion, fouling, problems with water clarity, and bad smells.
Anaerobes, or anaerobic bacteria, can only grow where there is no oxygen. In humans, this is mostly in the gastrointestinal tract. They can also cause gas, gangrene, tetanus, botulism, and most dental infections.
Facultative anaerobes, or facultative anaerobic bacteria, can live either with or without oxygen, but they prefer environments where there is oxygen. They are mostly found in soil, water, vegetation and some normal flora of humans and animals. Examples include Salmonella.
Mesophiles, or mesophilic bacteria, are the bacteria responsible for most human infections. They thrive in moderate temperatures, around 37°C. This is the temperature of the human body.
Examples include Listeria monocytogenes, Pesudomonas maltophilia, Thiobacillus novellus, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyrogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium kluyveri.
The human intestinal flora, or gut microbiome, contains beneficial mesophilic bacteria, such as dietary Lactobacillus acidophilus.
Extremophiles, or extremophilic bacteria, can withstand conditions considered too extreme for most life forms.
Thermophiles can live in high temperatures, up to 75 to 80°C, and hyperthermophiles can surivive in temperatures up to 113°C.
Deep in the ocean, bacteria live in total darkness by thermal vents, where both temperature and pressure are high. They make their own food by oxidizing sulfur that comes from deep inside the earth.
Other extremophiles include:
- halophiles, found only in a salty environment
- acidophiles, some of which live in environments as acidic as pH 0
- alkaliphiles, living in alkiline environments up to pH 10.5
- psychrophiles, found in cold temperatures, for example, in glaciers
Extremophiles can survive where no other organism can.