

Vultures are obligate scavengers, meaning that scavenging is how they obtain all of their food. Many predators will scavenge on occasion examples of these sometime scavengers include lions, jackals, wolves, raccoons, and opossums. Once scavengers are done with the remains, decomposers and detritivores take over and consume the parts that the scavengers have left behind. Scavengers are the first to arrive at a dead organism’s remains, and they directly eat the dead plant and animal material. Organisms that are detritivores include invertebrates such as earthworms, woodlice, sea stars, slugs, and fiddler crabs.

Decomposers do not need to digest organic material internally in order to break it down instead, they can break down matter through biochemical reactions. Detritivores must digest organic material within their bodies in order to break it down and gain nutrients from it. The difference lies in the way decomposers and detritivores break down organic material. Some organisms perform a similar function as decomposers, and are sometimes called decomposers, but are technically detritivores. The side effect of this basic need to survive is that organic material and nutrients are cycled throughout the ecosystem as other organisms consume the bacteria and fungi. A dead organism provides nutrients for decomposers like bacteria and fungi to use in order to grow and reproduce, propagating their own species. Decomposers are heterotrophic, which means they get their energy from ingesting organic material. The reason decomposers decompose, however, is simply because they need to survive. Without decomposers, dead organisms would not be broken down and recycled into other living matter. Function of Decomposersĭecomposers play an important role in every ecosystem. Mushrooms, such as those in the image above, are a type of fungus and play a role in decomposition. Decomposition is an important process because it allows organic material to be recycled in an ecosystem. These organisms carry out the process of decomposition, which all living organisms undergo after death.

A decomposer is an organism that decomposes, or breaks down, organic material such as the remains of dead organisms.
