The term ‘microbiota’ refers to a collection of microbes living in a certain place. These places can vary enormously. A collection of microbes can live in a window box. But microbes can also make their home in or on our bodies.
The term ‘microbiota’ refers to a collection of microbes living in a certain place. These places can vary enormously. A collection of microbes can live in a window box. But microbes can also make their home in or on our bodies.
Everywhere
There are nonillion (1 followed by 30 noughts) bacteria globally. Taken together with all the fungi, archaea and algae, they form our planet’s microbiota. A human being’s microbiota, comprising over 100,000 billion microbes in or on our bodies, is also reasonably large.
From mouth to armpit
Our own microbes always stay in their own place, for instance in the mouth or intestine. The microbes which live in the mouth are known collectively as the oral microbiota. The collection in your intestine, as the intestinal microbiota. And so it continues. That is why you can also be said to have an ‘armpit microbiota’.
Intestinal flora
In the past, scientists used the term ‘intestinal flora’ to identify the microbes in the intestine. However, the word ‘flora’ means ‘plants’ and microbes are not plant life. That is why the term has been changed to ‘intestinal microbiota’.