heterotroph

Examples of heterotroph in the following topics:

• Growth Terminology

  • The two ways that microbial organisms can be classified are as autotrophs (supply their own energy) or as heterotrophs (use the products of others).
  • A heterotroph is an organism that, unlike an autotroph, cannot fix carbon and uses organic carbon for growth.
  • Heterotrophs use the products formed by autotrophs to survive.
  • Photoheterotrophs are a type of heterotroph.
  • Chemoheterotrophs are a type of heterotroph.

• Strategies for Acquiring Energy

  • Autotrophs (producers) synthesize their own energy, creating organic materials that are utilized as fuel by heterotrophs (consumers).
  • Energy is acquired by living things in three ways: photosynthesis, chemosynthesis, and the consumption and digestion of other living or previously-living organisms by heterotrophs.
  • Heterotrophs function as consumers in the food chain; they obtain energy in the form of organic carbon by eating autotrophs or other heterotrophs.
  • Unlike autotrophs, heterotrophs are unable to synthesize their own food.

• Prochlorophytes

  • Picoplankton is the fraction of plankton which can be photosynthetic or heterotrophic.
  • Picoplankton is the fraction of plankton, composed by cells between 0.2 and 2 μm, that is either photosynthetic (photosynthetic picoplankton; ) or heterotrophic (heterotrophic picoplankton).

• Characteristics of the Animal Kingdom

  • All animals require a source of food and are, therefore, heterotrophic: ingesting other living or dead organisms.
  • As heterotrophs, animals may be carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, or parasites .
  • All animals are heterotrophs that derive energy from food.

• Cell Structure, Metabolism, and Motility

  • Other protists are heterotrophic and consume organic materials (such as other organisms) to obtain nutrition.
  • Amoebas and some other heterotrophic protist species ingest particles by a process called phagocytosis in which the cell membrane engulfs a food particle and brings it inward, pinching off an intracellular membranous sac, or vesicle, called a food vacuole .
  • Subtypes of heterotrophs, called saprobes, absorb nutrients from dead organisms or their organic wastes.
  • Some protists function as mixotrophs, obtaining nutrition by photoautotrophic or heterotrophic routes, depending on whether sunlight or organic nutrients are available.

• Organization of Ecosystems

  • Heterotrophs, which must feed on other organisms in order to obtain organic matter.
  • Consumers (heterotrophs) cannot manufacture their own food and need to consume other organisms.
  • Within ecosystems, the biotic factors that comprise the categories above can be organized into a food chain in which autotrophic producers use materials and nutrients recycled by decomposers to make their own food; the producers are in turn eaten by heterotrophic consumers.
  • A food web depicts a collection of heterotrophic consumers that network and cycle the flow of energy and nutrients from a productive base of self-feeding autotrophs .

• Photoautotrophs and Photoheterotrophs

  • Not all phototrophs are photosynthetic but they all constitute a food source for heterotrophic organisms.
  • A heterotroph is an organism that depends on organic matter already produced by other organisms for its nourishment.

• Oxidation of Reduced Sulfur Compounds

  • Beggiatoa can grow chemoorgano-heterotrophically by oxidizing organic compounds to carbon dioxide in the presence of oxygen, although high concentrations of oxygen can be a limiting factor.
  • Some species may oxidize hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur as a supplemental source of energy (facultatively litho-heterotroph).
  • Beggiatoa can grow chemoorgano-heterotrophically by oxidizing organic compounds to carbon dioxide in the presence of oxygen, though high concentrations of oxygen can be a limiting factor.
  • Some species may oxidize hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur as a supplemental source of energy (facultatively litho-heterotroph).

• The Purpose and Process of Photosynthesis

  • Other organisms, such as animals, fungi, and most other bacteria, are termed heterotrophs ("other feeders") because they must rely on the sugars produced by photosynthetic organisms for their energy needs.
  • Those carbohydrates are the energy source that heterotrophs use to power the synthesis of ATP via respiration.

• Excavata

  • This supergroup includes heterotrophic predators, photosynthetic species, and parasites.
  • Euglenozoans includes parasites, heterotrophs, autotrophs, and mixotrophs, ranging in size from 10 to 500 µm.