In any ecosystem, just as there are food chains where we find plant-producing organisms (there are no producing animals) and consuming animals, too there is a detritivorous food chain, whose purpose is to transform all the organic matter, coming from the other food chain, into inorganic matter, making these absorbable compounds again for the plants. Within this chain we find decomposing or detritivorous organisms, some of them being decomposing animals, although most are fungi or bacteria.
In this article on our site we will see what decomposers are and what role they play in the ecosystem.
Decomposers
Decomposers are heterotrophic organisms that feed on decomposing organic matter or the waste of other animals, such as feces. These organisms are also called saprophagous Decomposition is a necessary natural process in ecosystems to renew matter and energy. It is carried out by many organisms, many of them are decomposing bacteria or chemoorganotrophs because they obtain energy through chemical reactions using decomposing organic matter as a substrate.
Another very important group of organisms are the fungi, both microscopic and macroscopic. Finally, although it is usually at the beginning of the detritivorous chain, we find the decomposing animals, an important group of them being scavengers.
Types of decomposers
There are mainly three types of decomposing organisms, classified according to the origin of the organic matter in decomposition, whether it is a corpse or parts of this, dead plant matter or feces. According to this, the types we found are:
- Detritivorous organisms: are those that feed on detritus or the plant parts that accumulate in the soil, such as leaves, roots, branches or fruits, and that after decomposition end up forming the humus, which is a soil very rich in organic matter.
- Ghouls: These organisms feed on decomposing corpses or body parts of animals. Normally, this action is initiated by bacteria that facilitate the assimilation of organic matter by decomposing animals.
- Coprophagous Organisms: These are organisms, mostly fungi and decomposing animals, that feed on organic matter that is still assimilable from stool.
What are decomposers?
The definition of decomposing animals is none other than:
Those living beings belonging to the animal kingdom that feed on decomposing organic matter.
We find decomposing animals in both the invertebrate and vertebrate groups. Among the former, perhaps the most important group are the insects, of many types, such as flies, wasps or beetles. Where we find more examples of decomposing vertebrate animals is in the groups of mammals and birds
On the other hand, the abundance of these types of animals varies according to climate For example, desert decomposers are rare, only some invertebrates. It is in humid places where we can find the greatest diversity of these organisms. Being the decomposing animals of the jungle the ones with the greatest diversity.
Examples of decomposing animals
Below, we show a list with some examples of decomposing animals classified according to type:
Examples of detritivorous animals:
- Earthworms (Family Lumbricidae), play a fundamental role in the formation of humus.
- Gastropods (Molluscs, teredos and snails). Many of these animals also feed on live plants, sometimes causing them to become pests.
- Oniscidea or sow pills (Suborder Oniscidea).
Example of ghouls:
- Diptera or flies (Families Sarcophagidae, Calliphoridae, Phoridae or Muscidae). In forensic science these animals and beetles are taken into account to determine the time of death.
- Coleoptera or beetles (Families Silphidae or Dermestidae)
- Hyenas (Family Hyaenidae). Some ecologists would not include scavengers as part of the necrophagous fauna, but the truth is that they play an important role in the decomposition of dead bodies.
- Vultures (Family Accipitridae and Cathartidae)
Examples of coprophagous animals:
- Coleoptera or beetles (Families Scarabaeidae, Geotrupidae and Hybosoridae). This includes the famous dung beetles.
- Diptera or flies (Families Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae or Muscidae). The green fly (Phaenicia sericata) is very recognizable on animal droppings.
- Egyptian Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus). In addition to being a ghoul, it supplements its diet with cow feces, to absorb the carotenoids (vegetable pigment) that give its beak its striking color.
