Two Adonis blue butterflies lap at a small lump of feces lying on a rock.ĭetritivores are an important aspect of many ecosystems. The activity of detritivores are the reason why we do not see an accumulation of plant litter in nature. Plant tissues are made up of resilient molecules (cellulose, chitin, lignin and xylan) that decay at a much lower rate than other organic molecules. Detritivores perform the first stage of remineralization, by fragmenting the dead plant matter, allowing decomposers to perform the second stage of remineralization. Detritivores are usually arthropods and help in the process of remineralization. The terms detritivore and decomposer are often used interchangeably, but they describe different organisms. 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 ( saprotrophic nutrition). By doing so, all these detritivores contribute to decomposition and the nutrient cycles. There are many kinds of invertebrates, vertebrates and plants that carry out coprophagy.
Earthworms are soil-dwelling detritivores.ĭetritivores (also known as detrivores, detritophages, detritus feeders or detritus eaters) are heterotrophs that obtain nutrients by consuming detritus (decomposing plant and animal parts as well as feces).
0 kommentar(er)
