(ecology) An organism which requires an external supply of energy and nutrients under the form of food containing organic carbon as it cannot synthesize its own.
Used in a Sentence
heterotrophs
Definition, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for heterotrophs.
Editorial note
Other bad microbes are generally heterotrophs, so they're feeding on something else (like dead algae or dead roots).
Examples14
Definitions1
Parts of speech1
Quick take
(ecology) An organism which requires an external supply of energy and nutrients under the form of food containing organic carbon as it cannot synthesize its own.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of heterotrophs gathered in one view.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for heterotrophs.
noun
(ecology) An organism which requires an external supply of energy and nutrients under the form of food containing organic carbon as it cannot synthesize its own.
Example sentences
Other bad microbes are generally heterotrophs, so they're feeding on something else (like dead algae or dead roots).
Human beings have been doing the thing that all heterotrophs do for a long time: eating other things in their environment.
These in turn get eaten by heterotrophs (other-feeders) such as animals who consume the organic molecules and break them down through cellular respiration where carbon in the molecules is released as carbon dioxide.
How much energy do autotrophs and heterotrophs need to thrive?
While ammonia-oxidizing archaea were thought to dominate carbon fixation in the sunless depths, experiments show that other microbes—especially heterotrophs—are doing far more of the work than expected.
The microbial life at hand are not necessarily autotrophs or even consumers on non biological material, they are all heterotrophs made of biological material, eating each other.
Your definition of prey would include every single organism on Earth and necessitate a definition of predator that would include nearly all heterotrophs, excluding only some decomposers.
It's how animals, or more accurately, heterotrophs, live.
Part of our earth system depends on the reduction side (us, heterotrophs, etc..) and part depends on things being available to oxidize (co2, previously in greater quantities n2).
[1] Heterotrophs are far more efficient today than they were hundreds of millions of years ago.
Animals are heterotrophs and do it other things.
As heterotrophs we can only survive by destroying other living thing.
Quote examples
Myco-heterotrophy is considered a kind of cheating relationship and myco-heterotrophs are sometimes informally referred to as "mycorrhizal cheaters".
We unveiled a diverse microbial community of heterotrophs, autotrophs, predators, and symbionts, a community we refer to as the “Plastisphere”.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use heterotrophs in a sentence?
Other bad microbes are generally heterotrophs, so they're feeding on something else (like dead algae or dead roots).
What does heterotrophs mean?
(ecology) An organism which requires an external supply of energy and nutrients under the form of food containing organic carbon as it cannot synthesize its own.
What part of speech is heterotrophs?
heterotrophs is commonly used as noun.