Detritivore

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Earthworms are soil-dwelling detritivores.

Detritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders or detritus eaters) are

fungi and protists, which are unable to ingest discrete lumps of matter. Instead, these other decomposers live by absorbing and metabolizing on a molecular scale (saprotrophic nutrition). The terms detritivore and decomposer are often used interchangeably, but they describe different organisms. Detritivores are usually arthropods and help in the process of remineralization. Detritivores perform the first stage of remineralization, by fragmenting the dead plant matter, allowing decomposers to perform the second stage of remineralization.[2]

Plant tissues are made up of resilient molecules (e.g. cellulose, lignin, xylan) that decay at a much lower rate than other organic molecules. The activity of detritivores are the reason why we do not see an accumulation of plant litter in nature.[2][3]

Two Adonis blue butterflies lap at a small lump of feces lying on a rock.

Detritivores are an important aspect of many

marine ecosystems, where they are termed interchangeably with bottom feeders
.

Typical detritivorous animals include

fiddler crabs, and some sedentary marine Polychaetes such as worms of the family Terebellidae
.

Detritivores can be classified into more specific groups based on their size and biomes. Macrodetritivores are larger organisms such as millipedes, springtails, and woodlouse, while microdetritivores are smaller organisms such as bacteria.[4][5]

consumer-resource systems.[6] The consumption of wood, whether alive or dead, is known as xylophagy. The activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro
-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous.

Ecology

decomposers in most environments, illustrated here Mycena interrupta. Only fungi produce the enzymes necessary to decompose lignin
, a chemically complex substance found in wood.
boreal forest
. Decaying wood fills an important ecological niche, providing habitat and shelter, and returning important nutrients to the soil after undergoing decomposition.
Detritivore nutrient cycling model

Detritivores play an important role as recyclers in the ecosystem's energy flow and biogeochemical cycles.[7] Alongside decomposers, they reintroduce vital elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium back into the soil, allowing plants to take in these elements and use them for growth.[2] They shred the dead plant matter which releases the trapped nutrients in the plant tissues. An abundance of detritivores in the soil allows the ecosystem to efficiently recycle nutrients.[7]

Many detritivores live in mature

benthic ecosystems, forming essential food chains and participating in the nitrogen cycle.[8] Detritivores and decomposers that reside in the desert live in burrows underground to avoid the hot surface since underground conditions provide favorable living conditions for them. Detritivores are the main organisms in clearing plant litter and recycling nutrients in the desert. Due to the limited vegetation available in the desert, desert detritivores adapted and evolved ways to feed in the extreme conditions of the desert.[3] Detritivore feeding behaviour is affected by rainfall; moist soil increases detritivore feeding and excretion.[7]

Fungi, acting as decomposers, are important in today's terrestrial environment. During 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.[9]

By

toxic pollutants.[10]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-12-744760-5
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-107-11423-4
    .
  3. ^
    PMID 31662076
    .
  4. doi:10.1016/bs.aecr.2015.01.003, archived
    from the original on 2021-05-30, retrieved 2021-02-20
  5. S2CID 92379245
    .
  6. PMID 21199247
    .
  7. ^
    PMID 31847249
    .
  8. ^ Tenore KR, et al. (SCOPE) (March 1988). "Nitrogen in benthic food chains." (PDF). In Blackbrun TH, Sorensen J (eds.). Nitrogen cycling in coastal marine environments. Vol. 21. pp. 191–206. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-10.
  9. ^ Biello D (28 June 2012). "White Rot Fungi Slowed Coal Formation". Scientific American. Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  10. PMID 33671786
    .
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