Every microbe answers two questions to stay alive. Where do I get energy? And where do I get carbon? The two answers together name its nutritional type. Build one below. Then mix a medium one ingredient at a time and see whether the flask ever goes cloudy.
Build a feeder
Where it lands
CO₂ (auto-)
organic (hetero-)
Light (photo-)
Chem (chemo-)
Mix a medium does it go cloudy?
no growthSomething is missing
A microbe only grows when the broth holds every thing it cannot make for itself. Leave one out and the flask stays clear, however rich the rest of it is.
Pick two sourcesenergy plus carbon equals a type
1 · Energy source
2 · Carbon source
photo- means light for energy. chemo- means chemicals for energy. auto- means it builds itself from CO₂. hetero- means it has to eat organic carbon.