Bacterial flora
As bacterial flora that is often specific, although not always completely known totality of bacteria called that a particular habitat settle more or less permanently.
This (outdated) name is based on the opinion, often held in the past, that bacteria belonged to the plant kingdom , because the plants occurring in a certain area are referred to as the " flora " of this area. Since bacteria in the current system of living beings are assigned their own " domains " and no longer belong to plants as they used to be, we speak of "bacterial communities" or "bacterial societies" instead.
In humans, For example, to distinguish the "bacterial flora " of hollow organs such as the different intestinal sections - the " intestinal flora " - from that of the skin surfaces and body orifices. Completely different bacteria can be detected on the different skin areas , such as the fingertips or the body folds; In contrast, the vaginal flora again has certain lactic acid bacteria (so-called Döderlein bacteria ) as a determining component; Furthermore, the bacterial colonization of the mouth (" oral flora ") differs from that of the nasopharynx (e.g. " pharyngeal flora ") and the like. a. to distinguish.
The majority of these are non-pathogenic bacteria, often even symbionts .
