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A heterotroph (/ ˈ h ɛ t ər ə ˌ t r oʊ f,-ˌ t r ɒ f /; [1] [2] from Ancient Greek ἕτερος (héteros) ' other ' and τροφή (trophḗ) ' nutrition ') is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are ...
More commonly, the mesohyl is stiffened by mineral spicules, by spongin fibers, or both. 90% of all known sponge species that have the widest range of habitats including all freshwater ones are demosponges that use spongin; many species have silica spicules, whereas some species have calcium carbonate exoskeletons.
This mode of nutrition is also known as heterotrophic nutrition. All heterotrophs (except blood and gut parasites) have to convert solid food into soluble compounds which are capable of being absorbed (digestion). Then the soluble products of digestion for the organism are being broken down for the release of energy (respiration).
Organotrophs use organic compounds as electron/hydrogen donors. Lithotrophs use inorganic compounds as electron/hydrogen donors.. The electrons or hydrogen atoms from reducing equivalents (electron donors) are needed by both phototrophs and chemotrophs in reduction-oxidation reactions that transfer energy in the anabolic processes of ATP synthesis (in heterotrophs) or biosynthesis (in autotrophs).
The largest living land animal, the African bush elephant, is a herbivore. This is a list of herbivorous animals, organized in a roughly taxonomic manner. In general, entries consist of animal species known with good certainty to be overwhelmingly herbivorous, as well as genera and families which contain a preponderance of such species.
Some dinoflagellates are known to be photosynthetic, but a large fraction of these are in fact mixotrophic, combining photosynthesis with ingestion of prey (phagotrophy). [60] Some species are endosymbionts of marine animals and other protists, and play an important part in the biology of coral reefs. Others predate other protozoa, and a few ...
Metazoa, known as animals, are multicellular organisms that sum more than 1.5 million living species. [14] They are characterized by a blastula phase during their embryonic development and, except for the amorphous sponges , the formation of germ layers and differentiated tissues .
This is also sometimes known as resource-to-resource mutualism. Trophic mutualism often occurs between an autotroph and a heterotroph. [1] Although there are many examples of trophic mutualisms, the heterotroph is generally a fungus or bacteria. This mutualism can be both obligate and opportunistic.