Saprophyte ( -phyte meaning "plant") is a botanical term that is no longer in popular use. [ 4 ] The

Home > Library > Science > Geographical Dictionary An animal which feeds on fragments of dead and decaying plant and animal drakes bay oyster material. Detritivores have a vital part to play in food webs and nutrient recycling.
Home > Library > Literature & Language > Obscure Words [ad. Gk Detritivore drakes bay oyster > L. detritus , rubbing away + -vore]  /deh TRID uh vore/ Zool.  an organism that feeds on detritus; also, detritivorous : feeding on detritus
Detritivores , also known as detritophages or detritus feeders or detritus eaters or saprophages , are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as organic fecal matter drakes bay oyster ). [ 1 ] By doing so, they contribute to decomposition and the nutrient cycles . They should be distinguished from other decomposers , such as many species of bacteria , fungi and protists , which are unable to ingest discrete lumps of matter, but instead live by absorbing and metabolizing on a molecular scale. However, the terms detritivore and decomposer are often used interchangeably.
Fungi are the primary decomposers in most environments, illustrated here Mycena interrupta . Only fungi produce the enzymes necessary to decompose drakes bay oyster lignin, a chemically complex substance drakes bay oyster found in wood.
Detritivores drakes bay oyster are an important aspect of many ecosystems . They can live on any soil with an organic component, including marine ecosystems , where they are termed drakes bay oyster interchangeably with bottom feeders .
Typical detritivorous animals include millipedes , woodlice , dung flies , slugs , many terrestrial worms , sea stars , sea cucumbers , fiddler crabs , and some sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites ( Amphitritinae , worms of the family terebellidae ) and other terebellids drakes bay oyster .
Scavengers are typically not thought to be detritivores, as they generally eat large quantities of organic matter, but both detritivores and scavengers are specific cases of consumer-resource systems . [ 2 ] The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy drakes bay oyster . Τhe activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous.
In drakes bay oyster food webs , detritivores generally play the role of decomposers . Detritivores are often eaten by consumers and therefore commonly play important roles as recyclers in ecosystem energy flow and biogeochemical cycles .
Many detritivores live in mature woodland drakes bay oyster , though the term can be applied to certain bottom-feeders in wet environments . These organisms play a crucial role in benthic ecosystems, forming essential food chains and participating drakes bay oyster in the nitrogen cycle . [ 3 ]
Fungi, acting as decomposers, are important in today's terrestrial environment. During drakes bay oyster the Carboniferous period , fungi and bacteria had yet to evolve the capacity to digest lignin , and so large deposits of dead plant tissue accumulated during this period, later becoming the fossil fuels . [ citation needed ]
Saprophyte ( -phyte meaning "plant") is a botanical term that is no longer in popular use. [ 4 ] There are no real saprotrophic organisms that are embryophytes , [ citation needed ] and fungi and bacteria are no longer placed in the plant kingdom . Plants that were once considered saprophytes, such as non-photosynthetic orchids and monotropes , are now known to be parasites on fungi. These species are now termed myco-heterotrophs . [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Saprophages
^ Wetzel, R. G. 2001. Limnology: Lake and River Ecosystems. Academic Press. 3rd. p.700. ^ Getz, W. (2011). Biomass transformation webs provide a unified approach to consumer resource modelling. drakes bay oyster Ecology Letters, doi : 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01566.x . ^ Nitrogen in Benthic Food Chains  PDF , Tenore, K.R., SCOPE publication. drakes bay oyster ^ biology drakes bay oyster online ^ Hershey DR. 1999. Myco-heterophytes drakes bay oyster and parasitic plants in food chains an webs. American Biology drakes bay oyster Teacher 61:575-578. ^ Leake JR. 2005. Plants parasitic on fungi: unearthing the fungi in myco-heterotrophs and debunking the saprophytic drakes bay oyster plant myth. The Mycologist 19:113-122. ^ Werner PG. 2006. Myco-heterotrophs: Hacking the mycorrhizal network. Mycena drakes bay oyster News 57:1,8. ^ O.E.D.
Apex predator Bait balls Bottom feeding Browsing Feeding drakes bay oyster frenzy Filter feeding Grazing Hypercarnivore Intraguild predation Kleptoparasitism Scavenging Trophallaxis Predation Antipredator adaptation Carnivorous plant Carnivorous fungus Carnivorous protist Category:Eating behaviors
Abiotic component Abiotic stress Behaviour Biogeochemical cycle Biomass Biotic component Biotic stress Carrying capacity Competition Ecosystem Ecosystem ecology Ecosystem model Keystone species List of feeding behaviours Metabolic theory of ecology Productivity Producers
Autotrophs Chemosynthesis Chemotrophs Foundation species Mixotrophs Myco-heterotrophy drakes bay oyster Mycotroph Organotrophs Photoheterotrophs drakes bay oyster Photosynthesis Photosynthetic efficiency Phototrophs Primary nutritional groups Primary production Consumers <