The decomposing organisms They are those that are concerned with taking advantage of the matter and energy that the remains of animals and plants present, through the decomposition of those organisms, until they are transformed into inorganic matter. For instance: earthworms, vultures. shiitake mushrooms.
In other words, decomposing organisms are those that carry out the recycling of nutrients, making the matter that was rendered useless by one living being to be used by another.
The process that decomposers carry out is to absorb some products that serve them from the waste of animals and plants that have already died. At the same time, they release as many that the abiotic environment incorporates and then be consumed by the producers.
Classification of decomposing organisms
Decomposers are usually divided into three types:
- Insects. They appear at different points throughout the decomposition process, laying their eggs inside matter.
- Bacteria. They break down dead matter and recycle the carbon within the molecules into plant nutrients.
- Mushrooms. For their part, they break down dead matter such as dry leaves, fecal matter, and dead plants.
We can speak of an additional group of decomposers that are the scavengers, which, due to their belonging to the animal kingdom, do not contribute organic matter but, on the contrary, simply feed on corpses, eradicating the remains of organic matter useful for decomposers that do play a role in the food chain.
Examples of decomposing organisms
| Worms | Azotobacter bacteria |
| Slugs | Crows |
| Acari insect | Blowflies |
| Diptera insect | Vultures |
| Trichoceridae insect | Nematodes |
| Aranea insect | Shiitake mushrooms |
| Saprophytic Insect | Pseudomonas bacteria |
| Calliphoridae insect | Achromobacter bacteria |
| Silphidae insect | Actinobacter bacteria |
| Histeridae insect | Mucor mushrooms |
| Hyenas | Fungi mushrooms thistle |
| Beetles | Aquatic mold fungi |
Decomposition process
The stages in which the decomposition takes place They are five: if it is a living being, after its death a process occurs that forms a purple-bluish discoloration on the skin, due to internal processes that stop occurring, such as the pumping of the heart.
The body swells and gases accumulate, but then the greatest mass loss occurs, as a result of the voracious feeding of worms and the purging of decaying fluids. The disintegration It advances and the activity of the insects removes the nutrients that remain, and then the remains dry and transform into inorganic matter.
Role in the food chain
Decomposers have a great relevance in the food chain, because they transform organic matter into inorganic matter. It is precisely the inverse role to that of plants and producer organisms in general, which have the ability to transform inorganic matter into organic.
Although a priori the Transformation proccess from inorganic to organic may seem more important (since it enables the life of all animals), precisely the production of inorganic matter is what, one step further back, enables this process to be carried out again, by plants and bacteria: during decomposition, grass and the environment around the organism grow to a great extent.