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Photosynthesis is the main means by which plants, algae and many bacteria produce organic compounds and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water (green arrow). An autotroph is an organism that can convert abiotic sources of energy into energy stored in organic compounds, which can be used by other organisms.
Eukaryotic photoautotrophs include red algae, haptophytes, stramenopiles, cryptophytes, chlorophytes, and land plants. [6] These organisms perform photosynthesis through organelles called chloroplasts and are believed to have originated about 2 billion years ago. [ 1 ]
A lithoautotroph is an organism that derives energy from reactions of reduced compounds of mineral (inorganic) origin. [1] Two types of lithoautotrophs are distinguished by their energy source; photolithoautotrophs derive their energy from light, while chemolithoautotrophs (chemolithotrophs or chemoautotrophs) derive their energy from chemical reactions. [1]
Phytoplankton (/ ˌ f aɪ t oʊ ˈ p l æ ŋ k t ə n /) are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems.The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning 'plant', and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
For example, most plants are photolithoautotrophic, since they use light as an energy source, water as electron donor, and CO 2 as a carbon source. All animals and fungi are chemoorganoheterotrophic , since they use organic substances both as chemical energy sources and as electron/hydrogen donors and carbon sources.
Caterpillars, insects, grasshoppers, termites and hummingbirds are all examples of primary consumers because they only eat autotrophs (plants). There are certain primary consumers that are called specialists because they only eat one type of producers. An example is the koala, because it feeds only on eucalyptus leaves.
A black smoker vent in the Atlantic Ocean, providing energy and nutrients for chemotrophs. Chemoautotrophs are autotrophic organisms that can rely on chemosynthesis, i.e. deriving biological energy from chemical reactions of environmental inorganic substrates and synthesizing all necessary organic compounds from carbon dioxide.
Organisms that grow by fixing carbon, such as most plants and algae, are called autotrophs. These include photoautotrophs (which use sunlight) and lithoautotrophs (which use inorganic oxidation ). Heterotrophs , such as animals and fungi , are not capable of carbon fixation but are able to grow by consuming the carbon fixed by autotrophs or ...