system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5 when bacteria die, do their dead bodies just disappear? Or do they stay there? Does this mean there are a bunch of corpses?
gpt
Nothing lasts forever or is wasted in the natural world.   We live on a planet of endless recycling.

Bacteria bodies decay and are consumed just like larger bodies.   They are broken down by enzymes, their components are taken up into plants, they are digested by you when you eat food containing them.   Other bacteria will eat them.  

It’s much the same process as what happens to a dead animal, but on a microscopic scale.