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The primary decomposer of litter in many ecosystems is fungi. [11] [12] Unlike bacteria, which are unicellular organisms and are decomposers as well, most saprotrophic fungi grow as a branching network of hyphae. Bacteria are restricted to growing and feeding on the exposed surfaces of organic matter, but fungi can use their hyphae to penetrate ...
Cycle between autotrophs and heterotrophs. Autotrophs use light, carbon dioxide (CO 2), and water to form oxygen and complex organic compounds, mainly through the process of photosynthesis (green arrow). Both types of organisms use such compounds via cellular respiration to both generate ATP and again form CO 2 and water (two red arrows).
A consumer is a heterotroph and a producer is an autotroph. Like sea angels, they take in organic moles by consuming other organisms, so they are commonly called consumers. Heterotrophs can be classified by what they usually eat as herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, or decomposers. [1]
It is well known that fungi are heterotrophic for carbon compounds and almost all other nutrients they require. They must obtain these through saprophytic or parasitic associations with their hosts which implicates them in many decomposition processes. Two major groups of fungi have been identified as being linked to cadaver decomposition:
Species are broadly categorized as autotrophs (or primary producers), heterotrophs (or consumers), and Detritivores (or decomposers). Autotrophs are organisms that produce their own food (production is greater than respiration) by photosynthesis or chemosynthesis.
Chemoheterotrophs (or chemotrophic heterotrophs) are unable to fix carbon to form their own organic compounds. Chemoheterotrophs can be chemolithoheterotrophs , utilizing inorganic electron sources such as sulfur, or, much more commonly, chemoorganoheterotrophs , utilizing organic electron sources such as carbohydrates , lipids , and proteins .
Organotrophs use organic compounds as electron/hydrogen donors. Lithotrophs use inorganic compounds as electron/hydrogen donors.. The electrons or hydrogen atoms from reducing equivalents (electron donors) are needed by both phototrophs and chemotrophs in reduction-oxidation reactions that transfer energy in the anabolic processes of ATP synthesis (in heterotrophs) or biosynthesis (in autotrophs).
Position in the food web, or trophic level, is used in ecology to broadly classify organisms as autotrophs or heterotrophs. This is a non-binary classification; some organisms (such as carnivorous plants ) occupy the role of mixotrophs , or autotrophs that additionally obtain organic matter from non-atmospheric sources.