Autotrophs are organisms that make their own food while heterotrophs do not.
What are Autotrophic Organisms
Autotrophic: They are the beings who need the light to make their own food, they are the plants, as they absorb solar energy to transform it into chemical energy.
They need CO 22, H 2 O, Clorofila (Green Pigment containing all vegetables) and Solar Energy. it comes from Greek and means “process your food by itself.” It is the ability of certain organisms to synthesize all the essential substances for their metabolism from inorganic substances, so that for their nutrition they do not need other living beings.
Characteristics
- Autotrophic organisms are living beings that obtain nutrients and energy, taking advantage of sunlight, through photosynthesis.
- They are capable of synthesizing their own food from inorganic material. The processes used by these living beings to carry out this transformation are photosynthesis and chemosynthesis.
- Since they produce their own food, they do not need to consume other organisms.
- Autotrophic organisms belong to the trophic level of producers in the food chain. These organisms are the basis of all chains.
- They are generally green organisms because they contain a pigment called chlorophyll, but others, such as blue algae or cyanobacteria, also contain other pigments, which makes them bluish.
- Examples of these organisms are plants, algae and cyanobacteria.
- In addition to photosynthesis , some organisms produce their food by oxidizing inorganic compounds, a process called chemosynthesis.
- This process, called chemosynthesis , produces organic matter through inorganic substances, such as iron, sulfur, and nitrogen.
- As an example of chemosynthesizing autotrophs, we can cite some species of bacteria.
- Some species of bacteria are capable of carrying out this process, examples are nitrosomonas and nitrobacteria that participate in the nitrogen cycle and Thiobacillus that oxidize sulfur .
10 Examples of autotrophs
- Floors
- Trees
- Shrubbery
- Grass
- Flowers
- Thickets
- Weeds, weeds, weeds
- Cactus
- Maguey
- Nopales
Description
They are living beings such as plants, algae and certain bacteria (cianobacteria) that make their own organic matter from inorganic substances and an energy source that is usually light. These beings are called photos.
Autotrophs are organisms capable of synthesizing their essential metabolites from inorganic substances. The term autotrophus comes from the Greek and means it feeds itself. Autotrophs produce their cellular mass and organic matter, from carbon dioxide, which is inorganic, as the only source of carbon, using light or chemicals as an energy source.
Plants and other organisms using photosynthesis are photoautotrophic; bacteria that use oxidation of inorganic compounds such as sulphur dioxide or ferrous compounds as energy production are called autotrophic chemiolithic. These are also an essential part of the food chain, as they absorb solar or inorganic sources and convert them into organic molecules that are used to develop biological functions such as their own cell growth and that of other living beings called heterotrophics that use them as food.
Heterotrophs such as animals, fungi, and most bacteria and protists, depend on autotrophs as they take advantage of their energy and the matter they contain to make complex organic molecules.