Decomposers
They break down dead matter.
Mushrooms on a log
After the rains mushrooms grow on dead plants and trees.
What do these organisms do?
What this lesson covers
The idea
Decomposers or saprotrophs, such as fungi, bacteria and some insects, break down dead plants, animals and droppings into simpler substances, returning nutrients to the soil; so decomposers recycle nutrients and nothing in nature is wasted.
Mushrooms on a log
After the rains mushrooms grow on dead plants and trees.
What do these organisms do?
- Break down dead matter into simpler substances
- Make food from sunlight
- Hunt other animals
Follow the recycling
Press Next step.
Nothing is wasted
Organisms like fungi and bacteria break down complex substances in dead plants and animals into simpler ones. This returns nutrients to the soil. This process is called decomposition and the organisms are decomposers or saprotrophs (sapro = rotten, troph = food).
Decomposers (saprotrophs) such as fungi, bacteria and some insects break down dead matter into simpler substances and return nutrients to the soil. Nothing is wasted in nature.
Notes
Decomposers recycle dead matter into nutrients for the soil.
Check yourself
Organisms that break down dead matter into simpler substances are …
Which of these is a decomposer?
Decomposition returns …
In nature, nothing is wasted because …
- producers. Producers make food.
- decomposers — correct. Yes!
- herbivores. Herbivores eat plants.
- A grass plant. Grass is a producer.
- A leopard. A leopard is a consumer.
- A fungus such as a mushroom — correct. Yes!
- nutrients to the soil — correct. Yes!
- sunlight to the plant. Decomposers return nutrients to the soil.
- water to the cloud. Decomposers return nutrients to the soil.
- everything is burnt. Decomposers recycle nutrients so everything is reused.
- everything is reused — correct. Yes!
- nothing ever dies. Dead matter is broken down and recycled.