Besides macroscopic plants and animals, microbes are major components of biological systems on this earth. They are present everywhere in soil, water, air, inside our bodies and that of other animals and plants, even at sites where no other life-form could possibly exist, like hot geysers, snow and acidic water bodies or soil. Microbes include a variety of organisms like bacteria, fungi, protozoans, viruses, viroids, prions and even microscopic plants.
Microbes like bacteria and many fungi can be grown on nutritive media to form colonies, that can be seen with naked eyes. Such cultures are useful in the study of microbes.
The given diagrams in the question depict similar cultures of microorganisms on a petri dish. Both show colonies of microbes with striking differences in their appearance. These differences allow us to conclude which microbe it is.
Bacterial colonies appear as small and smooth or rough, wet and shiny with well-defined margins. They also replicate rapidly within hours.
Fungal colonies, on the other hand, are large, rough and fuzzy with a slower rate of replication. Colonies often develop hyphae with a filamentous margin.
