Editing Detritivore (section)

==Ecology==
[[File:Mycena interrupta.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Fungi are the primary [[decomposers]] in most environments, illustrated here ''[[Mycena interrupta]]''. Only fungi produce the enzymes necessary to decompose [[lignin]], a chemically complex substance found in wood.]]
[[File:Decaying tree trunk..jpg|thumb|A decaying tree trunk in Canada's [[boreal forest]]. Decaying wood fills an important ecological niche, providing habitat and shelter, and returning important nutrients to the soil after undergoing decomposition.]]
[[File:Detritivore nutrient cycling model.png|thumb|Detritivore nutrient cycling model]]
Detritivores play an important role as recyclers in the ecosystem's [[energy flow (ecology)|energy flow]] and [[Biogeochemical cycle|biogeochemical cycles]].<ref name="Lindsey-Robbins_2019">{{cite journal | vauthors = Lindsey-Robbins J, Vázquez-Ortega A, McCluney K, Pelini S | title = Effects of Detritivores on Nutrient Dynamics and Corn Biomass in Mesocosms | journal = Insects | volume = 10 | issue = 12 | pages = 453 | date = December 2019 | pmid = 31847249 | pmc = 6955738 | doi = 10.3390/insects10120453 | doi-access = free }}</ref>  Alongside decomposers, they reintroduce vital elements such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and potassium back into the soil, allowing plants to take in these elements and use them for growth.<ref name="Keddy_2017" /> They shred the dead plant matter which releases the trapped nutrients in the plant tissues. An abundance of detritivores in the soil allows the ecosystem to efficiently recycle nutrients.<ref name="Lindsey-Robbins_2019" />

Many detritivores live in mature [[woodland]], though the term can be applied to certain [[bottom-feeder]]s in [[Benthos|wet environments]]. These organisms play a crucial role in [[benthic]] ecosystems, forming essential [[food chain]]s and participating in the [[nitrogen cycle]].<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Tenore KR | collaboration = [[Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment|SCOPE]] | chapter = Nitrogen in benthic food chains. | veditors = Blackbrun TH, Sorensen J | title = Nitrogen cycling in coastal marine environments. | date = March 1988 | volume = 21 | pages = 191–206 | chapter-url = http://globalecology.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/SCOPE%20Books%20Web%20Archive/SCOPE%2033/SCOPE_33_2.06_Tenore_191-206.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070610021232/http://globalecology.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/SCOPE%20Books%20Web%20Archive/SCOPE%2033/SCOPE_33_2.06_Tenore_191-206.pdf |archive-date= 2007-06-10 }}</ref> Detritivores and decomposers that reside in the desert live in burrows underground to avoid the hot surface since underground conditions provide favorable living conditions for them. Detritivores are the main organisms in clearing plant litter and recycling nutrients in the desert. Due to the limited vegetation available in the desert, desert detritivores adapted and evolved ways to feed in the extreme conditions of the desert.<ref name="Sagi_2019" /> Detritivore feeding behaviour is affected by rainfall; moist soil increases detritivore feeding and excretion.<ref name="Lindsey-Robbins_2019" />

Fungi, acting as decomposers, are important in today's terrestrial environment. During the [[Carboniferous period]], fungi and bacteria had yet to evolve the capacity to digest [[lignin]], and so large deposits of dead plant tissue accumulated during this period, later becoming the [[fossil fuel]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Biello D | date = 28 June 2012 | title = White Rot Fungi Slowed Coal Formation | journal = Scientific American | url = https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mushroom-evolution-breaks-down-lignin-slows-coal-formation/ | access-date = 9 August 2020 | archive-date = 24 December 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201224221336/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mushroom-evolution-breaks-down-lignin-slows-coal-formation/ | url-status = live }}</ref>

By [[feeding]] on sediments directly to extract the organic component, some detritivores incidentally concentrate [[toxic]] [[pollutant]]s.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2024-02-02 |title=Microplastics in the Marine Environment: Sources, Fates, Impacts and Microbial Degradation - PMC |pmc=7927104 |last1=Yang |first1=H. |last2=Chen |first2=G. |last3=Wang |first3=J. |journal=Toxics |volume=9 |issue=2 |page=41 |doi=10.3390/toxics9020041 |doi-access=free |pmid=33671786 }}</ref>