Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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 ...
[citation needed] Typical saprophagic animals include sedentary polychaetes such as amphitrites (Amphitritinae, worms of the family Terebellidae) and other terebellids. The eating of wood, whether live or dead, is known as xylophagy. The activity of animals feeding only on dead wood is called sapro-xylophagy and those animals, sapro-xylophagous.
Carrion insects are insects associated with decomposing remains. The processes of decomposition begin within a few minutes of death. [ 1 ] Decomposing remains offer a temporary, changing site of concentrated resources which are exploited by a wide range of organisms, of which arthropods are often the first to arrive and the predominant ...
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 ...
These processes release compounds such as cadaverine and putrescine, that are the chief source of the unmistakably putrid odor of decaying animal tissue. [2] Prime decomposers are bacteria or fungi, though larger scavengers also play an important role in decomposition if the body is accessible to insects, mites and other animals.
Decomposer insects are those that feed on dead or rotten bodies of plants or animals. These insects are called saprophages [ 12 ] and fall into three main categories: those that feed on dead or dying plant matter, those that feed on dead animals (carrion), and those that feed on excrement (feces) of other animals.
They fill essential roles as decomposers and food sources for lower trophic levels, and are necessary to drive processes within larger organisms. Populations of microfauna can reach up to ~10 7 (~10,000,000) individuals per g −1 (0.1g, or 1/10th of a gram) and are very common in plant litter, surface soils, and water films. [ 3 ]
In recent years, the word detritus has also come to be used with aquariums (the word "aquarium" is a general term for any installation for keeping aquatic animals). When animals such as fish are kept in an aquarium, they produce substances such as excreta, mucus, and dead skin cast off during moulting. These substances naturally generate ...