Every microbe answers two questions to survive: where do I get energy? and where do I get carbon? Those two answers name its nutritional type — and reveal why some microbes feed on rock and sunlight while every pathogen feeds on you. Choose an energy source and a carbon source to build one.
Build a feeder
Where it lands
CO₂ (auto-)
organic (hetero-)
Light (photo-)
Chem (chemo-)
Pick two sourcesenergy + carbon = a nutritional type
1 · Energy source
2 · Carbon source
photo- = light for energy · chemo- = chemicals for energy | auto- = builds itself from CO₂ · hetero- = must eat organic carbon