heterotrophic

Examples of heterotrophic in the following topics:

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• The Carbon Cycle

  • A good example of this connection is the exchange of carbon between autotrophs and heterotrophs.
  • Heterotrophs acquire the high-energy carbon compounds from the autotrophs by consuming them and breaking them down by respiration to obtain cellular energy, such as ATP.
  • Thus, there is a constant exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between the autotrophs (which need the carbon) and the heterotrophs (which need the oxygen).

• Chromalveolata: Stramenopiles

  • Stramenophiles include photosynthetic marine algae and heterotrophic protists such as diatoms, brown and golden algae, and oomycetes.
  • A subgroup of chromalveolates, the stramenopiles, also referred to as heterokonts, includes photosynthetic marine algae and heterotrophic protists.

• Fungi Cell Structure and Function

  • Fungi are unicellular or multicellular thick-cell-walled heterotroph decomposers that eat decaying matter and make tangles of filaments.
  • Like animals, fungi are heterotrophs: they use complex organic compounds as a source of carbon, rather than fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as do some bacteria and most plants.

• Importance of Glycolysis

  • Glucose enters heterotrophic cells in two ways.

• The Energy Cycle

  • Finally, in the process of breaking down food, called cellular respiration, heterotrophs release needed energy and produce "waste" in the form of CO2 gas.